Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The Minister has not provided a detailed picture of what will be our liability in respect of Anglo Irish Bank. Nor has he indicated for how long that liability will hang like a millstone around the necks of every man, woman and child in this country.

In the meantime, ordinary businesses cannot obtain money to fund their day-to-day working capital and expansionary needs. Those who wish to start up new businesses or expand existing ones cannot obtain finance either. This is because the focus of the Minister, his Department, the regulatory agencies and the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland does not rest on restoring the flow of credit to the ordinary businesses which are the mainstay of employment creation, rather it rests on bailing out those involved with Anglo Irish Bank and - due to the nature of the guarantee - international bond and debt holders. I would be interested in seeing a detailed list of these bondholders, Irish and international. I would also be interested in seeing a list of those who are deposit holders with Anglo Irish Bank. It would be good to discover whether these depositors have loans from the bank and whether recourse might be had to their deposits in order to offset their borrowings.

One Sunday newspaper indicated that an individual, a former managing director and chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, apparently had significant deposits with that institution. Will the Minister confirm the fact that the bank has no recourse to these deposits in offsetting borrowings incurred by the individual to whom I refer? In other words, this person's deposits which amount to several millions are guaranteed by the State and, therefore, cannot be used to cover his loans with the bank. It is clear the taxpayer is being taken for a ride on this matter.

The Minister referred on previous occasions to the architecture of bank reform and indicated an intention to return to the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland on many of the direct regulatory functions in this regard. That appears to be borne out in the Bill because the guarantee scheme appears to come within the remit of the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland. If that is the case, is the Minister suggesting he will do away entirely with the Financial Regulator? Is the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland the best entity to hold responsibility for the guarantee?

The Labour Party suggested some months ago that a banking commission comprising people of national and international repute should be established in order to put in place a system in which we could have faith and which could restore our global reputation. What the Minister is doing is a typical Fianna Fáil trick. He is picking off a range of piecemeal reforms and placing the major one - the renewal of the bank guarantee scheme - under ministerial order and including it in another little Bill that will emerge next week. The Opposition is being presented with only bits of information in order that it will not have a clear idea of exactly what is planned.

What will happen to the savings protection scheme of the Irish League of Credit Unions? On the 0.2% contribution to the existing guarantee scheme - questions about this matter which was also dealt with in an OECD paper relating to moral hazard were asked on previous occasions - the same rate applies to all of the financial institutions covered by the scheme, including the credit unions, regardless of their level of risk. The OECD points out that deposit guarantee schemes are extremely useful in bank crises. As stated, the Labour Party called for the level of the guarantee to be increased long before the Minister even thought of addressing the issue.

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