Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

We all know that the banking system has let us down. I do not disagree with Deputy Higgins in regard to the extraordinary greed of people in the banking sector. As the private sector cannot solve this problem on its own, governments around the world have had to step in. Credit is the lifeblood of the economy and we need a healthy banking system to support mortgage holders, businesses and service providers. All Deputies more or less agree on the nature of the problem but shades of opinion differ on the solution.

Since the advent of our severe economic problems in the summer of 2008, the Government's strategy has been to restore public finances, solve the banking crisis and restore competitiveness and, therefore, employment growth. These are not easy tasks. Some people in the big bad world believe the Minister for Finance can wave a magic wand and suddenly all is well. However, months of work were required to develop a strategy. After hearing from people both within the system and outside it, the Government came up with the NAMA proposal in April and draft legislation in July. It is a bit rich that in recent weeks people have suggested bits of ideas they read in The Economist or the Financial Times. The details of these suggestions are fairly sparse and, while they may have been valuable months ago, at this stage we cannot afford to waste another year by starting again from square one. To quote Deputy Higgins, NAMA is the only show in town.

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