Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputies who attended and contributed to the debate on this legislation. I thank the Whips for agreeing that the Bill should be treated as a priority so that Ireland can meet its obligations under EU law. The debate ranged widely, as all our debates on banking do, and overlapped into other aspects of financial services. We can consider such matters next week in the context of the Financial Measures (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009. I believe the discussion on this Bill was constructive. The European Commission has embarked on consultation on possible amendments to the Community's deposit protection arrangements. I thank the staff of the Chief Whip's office and the Houses of the Oireachtas for the hard work they did to make progress with this legislation. It is important to respond to the point made by Deputies Bruton and Burton during the debate about the provision of the maximum possible amount of information on the banking system. If the specific items of information that are required can be put into the public domain, it is important that we do so as quickly as possible. If such information can be disclosed, I am open to disclosing it as quickly as possible.

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