John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

The harsh reality is that our country is in a financial crisis. As a small open economy, the international recession has hit us harder than most. The mess in which we find ourselves has arisen in no small part from the greed and stupidity of a minority of those involved in banking, land speculation and building developments. The property frenzy, largely driven by this minority, only halted when fear overtook greed and stupidity. We are now left to deal with the consequences.

It is no overstatement to say that our efforts today are aimed at saving the livelihoods and futures of Irish workers who had no part in that frenzy of greed and stupidity. We seek to secure the future prosperity and independence of this State and the Irish people, who remain stricken by fear. Any remedy we choose to resolve this crisis will be extremely expensive and unfair to workers. I and my colleagues in the Green Party have worked in government to find the solutions which will get us out of this financial mess as quickly as possible. We have devoted huge amounts of time in the past six months to finding the most effective options.

To say the very least, the Green Party has never been a friend of bankers or builders. We are unique among all the parties in this House in that we have never taken a red cent from either. The Green Party would never co-operate with an effort to bail out bankers or builders. Quite the opposite. We see this initiative for what it is, namely, a stimulus for an economy that is mired in crisis, an effort to get money flowing back to business, and an initiative to save existing jobs and to create new jobs. We need an effective and functioning banking system as part of a strategy to build economic recovery and to take advantage of the nascent and much anticipated international upswing. We must ensure there is a flow of credit to fund businesses and to sustain jobs. Our banks must be able to secure the funds to lend to business. That is why we have worked in government on the creation of the National Asset Management Agency.

Throughout these months of Government deliberations, we in the Green Party have stressed that the solution we choose must be the least expensive and the least unfair for the taxpayer. I would not be standing here today if I were not convinced that we are on our way to finding that least expensive and least unfair option. The National Asset Management Agency is the least worst option. Moreover, we have worked hard to refine and adapt it to bring significant spin-off benefits to taxpayers and to ensure there can be no repeat of the property bubble which led us inexorably to this economic crisis.

Our focus must be on resolving this crisis. In that regard, it is logical to consider the viability of the alternatives to the NAMA proposal that have been put forward. We have been offered a good bank option from Fine Gael, while the Labour Party offers nationalisation followed by another version of NAMA which it calls an asset recovery trust. Despite both parties' efforts to delude the public, each of these would-be alternatives is both expensive and unfair. More importantly, I am simply not convinced they would be as effective as the National Asset Management Agency in resolving our current dire difficulties.

The Labour Party and some of its supporting commentators would have us believe that a 100% bank nationalisation is the way to go. We looked closely at that prospect without any ideological baggage. The simple reality is that full bank nationalisation would leave taxpayers responsible immediately for 100% of capital and funding costs for the banks. It would instantly cost tens of billions of euro, which is money we do not have. For example, in the case of Anglo Irish Bank, which had to be nationalised earlier this year, we found that we had to inject €4 billion in taxpayers' money to make good serious loan losses. There is no other option when a bank is nationalised because banks must maintain minimum capitalisation levels.

Ireland borrows most of its money abroad. If banks were fully nationalised, the country's credit rating would be downgraded and borrowing would be significantly more expensive for the taxpayer. Central to the Fine Gael Party's original plans for a good bank was an apparent threat to default on significant levels of bank debt. This far-reaching step would have had disastrous effects, causing long-term damage to Ireland's reputation and, ultimately, costing much more taxpayers' money to fix.

The bonds issued by banks are largely part of the banks' own funding and are owned by pension funds, insurance companies and other providers of long-term funds. I will not waste time on this issue but it is sufficient to note that two former Fine Gael Party leaders, Dr. Garret FitzGerald and Mr. Alan Dukes, felt obliged to publicly express serious misgivings about the solution being advanced by the party to which they had given a large part of their lives and considerable talents. All of us in this Chamber who have devoted time and effort to our parties will be aware of the personal dilemma involved for these two men. I salute their integrity and honesty.

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to meet another former Fine Gael Deputy and stalwart of the party who wished me well and asked me to do my best for the country.

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