Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

That is my point. I appreciate that I will not have the opportunity of ventilating these matters to the extent to which they should be ventilated in this session today. That is why I am looking for a debate, why I ask the Government what type of arrangements it will allow for us to debate and discuss these issues. The take adopted by the IMF and the OECD on the state of our economy is quite different from the stated take of the Government. We must assess that.

Second, their assessment of what the Government is doing in respect of the banking system is at variance with what the Government proposes to do, which is still vague. We still do not know when this legislation will be published and considered by the House. Meanwhile, events continue apace. Before we go into recess for the summer we need to have a proper and serious debate about the state of the economy based on these two reports. I will not agree anything on today's Order of Business until I receive a commitment from the Minister for Finance that the House will have such a debate.

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