Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The problem is that all over the country, good businesses are simply trying to survive. These business will thrive again when there is an upturn in the economy. They just need to get to that point while retaining as many staff as possible. They need help and credit. I am repeatedly hearing that the small facilities of €5,000, €10,000 or €20,000 - we are not speaking about large sums - which businesses need to keep going from one week to the next and to pay wages are unobtainable. The figures released by the Central Bank which reveal a decrease of €1.3 billion in March confirm what I am hearing.

We can have all the debate we want in this House or hurl political charges at one another but the difference between the Taoiseach and me is that he is charged with executive responsibility for running the Government and making sure credit is flowing in the economy so that businesses can continue. He has brought before us a succession of measures which have not worked because credit is not being provided. The banks are issuing press statements which claim they are lending but they are not doing so even though the State has provided an unconditional guarantee on the Taoiseach's recommendation. We were the people who advised that it should not be unconditional. The reason we differed with the Government on 30 September was because we argued that the guarantees and support provided by the State to the banking system should have been conditional on banks providing credit to business, cleaning up their act in terms of capping salaries and making the necessary reforms, some of which were made subsequently, and on the State taking equity in the banks, which was taken anyway and which may have to be increased in the future.

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