Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I have also heard the argument of political opportunism - that the Opposition should let this go to avoid facing difficult decisions. That, again, is a dangerous route. The patriotic thing to do now is to ask the hard questions, put this under real scrutiny and expose the fact that we are making a mistake. We are embarking on a ship that is not seaworthy and heading in a direction that will not save the Irish taxpayer or the economy. We must, even at this late stage, reconsider what is at stake. This is a major decision and we must do everything in our power to get it right. It has engendered unprecedented debate, as any Member who looks at his or her e-mails every day will see. We should be proud that people are really engaged. There is intense anger and rage at times about what is involved, but we must channel that rage to make sure we decide on this proposal in a mature way. We are determined in this Second Stage debate - the debate on the principle of the Bill - to fight tooth and nail against this decision, because we are convinced the Minister is making a mistake we will pay for.

Our approach to resolving the banking crisis starts by determining the problem we are attempting to solve. We need to get credit flowing for ordinary businesses and families so that jobs can be protected. That is what we need to do, not bail out bankers or developers. We must sustain a financial system that can support employment. At times the Government has lost sight of this important distinction. It is a distinction economists would make: which parts of the bank are systemically important and which are not?

See this speech in context