Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

We can go into that. The Deputy should read carefully what the person who was asked to be the chief executive of this entity on an interim basis, Mr. McDonagh, said because he has been at the operational coalface. If one reads what he said, he clarified many of the issues. Dr. Somers has made his support for NAMA very clear and does not see any other way in which we can resolve our banking crisis.

We can provide liquidity to the banks, we can guarantee them and we can capitalise them, but if the balance sheets are impaired they have to be cleaned up. That is what the IMF has been telling every sovereign government in the world for the past few months. We have come up with a plan to do that.

See this speech in context