Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

This morning, I listened carefully to the chairman of the Bank of Ireland, who has announced his resignation, state that accountability for losses must be taken at the top. While I am not a fan of bankers whose irresponsibility has threatened everything that hard working people in this country built up over the years, at least Mr. Burrows was willing to accept responsibility and take accountability to its conclusion by tendering his resignation. He is not the only individual to have done so. By resigning, his industry colleagues in Allied Irish Banks, Anglo Irish Bank, Irish Life & Permanent and Irish Nationwide, as well as the Financial Regulator, have all accepted responsibility for their actions and seen to it that accountability is taken at the top.

On the other hand, the Taoiseach appears to be the last person to do this. While he says he accepts responsibility for his actions and collectively of those of the Government during its years in office, he will not see this through to accountability. As Minister for Finance, he presided over a regime which put banks and developers before people and under which we have gone from a surplus of €9 billion to a deficit of €20 billion. His regime spent €60 million of taxpayers' money on useless voting machines and €200 million on a failed computer system for the health system, removed medical cards from people aged over 70 years and intends to remove teachers from children with special needs. The Taoiseach says he accepts responsibility but there is no accountability in that.

People are faced with job losses and massive reductions in income. The lack of confidence coming from the Government is causing frustration and a loss of morale. I stood in the kitchen of a household where the husband and wife have lost their jobs and three of their sons are unemployed. This is replicated in thousands of homes across the country.

The Taoiseach accepts responsibility for a situation in which a budget was introduced with no fiscal stimulus for job creation. I put it to him that just as the shareholders in Bank of Ireland had their say this morning, so the shareholders in Ireland Inc. will have their say on 5 June. If they proceed to vote as they are talking and they vote no confidence in the Government, will the Taoiseach accept that responsibility and will he take that accountability to the top and seek a fresh mandate for his Government from the people who see this regime as nothing other than Fianna Fáil dictatorship?

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