Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

I also ask the Minister to insert "will" instead of "may" because it is more definite. The Minister should also provide that such guidelines will be published and laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas. That is important from the point of view of giving the Oireachtas an opportunity to discuss such guidelines from time to time. As colleagues have pointed out, in the very near future the State will own more than 50% of the main institutions as a result of the necessity for further capitalisation. Things will be different.

In a free society institutions should be forced to behave in a responsible fashion. That is why I raised this morning - the Minister was not here - the urgent need for reforming legislation regarding the regulatory role we play in how financial institutions operate. That in conjunction with what we are doing in this legislation will mean things will be different in the future. If the Minister cannot accept our amendments, perhaps he might include in his amendment a stipulation that any guidelines made should be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas.

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