Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Government apparently remains intent on bailing out banks through taxpayer recapitalisation and the purchase by NAMA of toxic developer loans. I have challenged the Government in the past to debate the issues in the House when Deputy Richard Bruton raised the matter of an entirely different system of dealing with toxic issues in the banks which would not expose the taxpayer to a potential €90 billion on top of the national debt but would allow for recapitalisation and for credit to flow through to business, which is the lifeblood of every economy, in the shortest possible time. What the Government is going to do is waste billions of taxpayers' money nursing along what it knows to be in many cases dodgy developer loans instead of getting credit to the hundreds of thousands of small businesses which need it.

We have to rebuild international confidence in our public finances. The Taoiseach is not going about that the right way. He is not doing it in respect of Anglo Irish Bank. I recall a telephone call from the Minister for Finance at ten minutes past seven in the morning-----

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