Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The Members opposite are the Government. What is the Taoiseach's yardstick or measure? The banks claim they are lending but the Central Bank and businesses say they are not. How much can he tell the House about what the guaranteed banks are doing to provide credit to businesses? Today, in the middle of the week, people who need to pay wages or bills by Friday and again next week do not know where they will get the money to do so. They need to know what will happen. What is the Taoiseach saying? He has headed the Government for a year almost to the day. Why are banks not lending? Why is credit not forthcoming? Have we not done enough for them? Every worker in this country will have his or her pay packet plundered over the next month to fill the hole that must be filled because the State is bailing out the banks. We can argue forever about whether it was necessary to do it but that is the reality. Working people are paying for this. What will happen in regard to banks lending to business in order that the economy can start moving again?

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