Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Wait a second. We are obviously using different yardsticks to measure what is working. The Government subsequently proceeded with the recapitalisation of the banks at a cost of €7 billion or €8.5 billion. This had to be followed up with a statement that the Government would bring in "an bord bail out" at a cost of God only knows how much more to the public purse.

In the meantime, the banks are not lending and businesses continue to be squeezed as a result of the shortage of credit. Everywhere I go, the message I repeatedly receive is that people cannot get money out of the banks. Yesterday, I was told by an auctioneer that he had a client who was willing to buy a house but while he could have got a loan for it three months ago, he cannot get the same amount now. Every business person I meet tells me he or she cannot get even the smallest facility from the very banks which the Government has bailed out with huge amounts of public money. The Central Bank's latest monthly statistics indicate that lending to business, or what it describes as "non-financial corporates", fell by €1.3 billion in March alone.

The banks keep telling us they are lending but businesses tell us they are not. What measure or ready reckoner is the Taoiseach using to determine whether they are lending? Has he a figure on the number of loans given, the amount of money lent or the overdraft facilities granted or refused? What is his measure? How is he assessing the performance of these guaranteed banks in circumstances where they publicly claim they are lending while businesses which depend on credit and provide jobs claim otherwise?

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