Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)

I listened to Deputy Joan Burton, who is a very good friend of mine. I admire much of what she says. However, she quoted experts such as Professor Lucey. Where was Professor Lucey five or six years ago when all this started, and the 15 with him and the 40 that forgot about him? They were not around then. Then there is the famous man, Peter Mathews, who is a banking expert. The fact is that if one walked down the street and met 1,000 people, one would find 900 experts, each with a different view. Peter Mathews is no example for me.

Talk of bank nationalisation in this scenario is yesterday's business. The world is moving out of recession and the option of bank nationalisation is behind us. Consider what happened in the UK with Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Halifax. They are trying to get out of difficulty and are getting support from the British Government. There is no bank nationalisation in Britain despite it having a Labour Party government, which always believed in nationalisation. It has no intention of nationalising those banks.

Deputy Jim O'Keeffe made a good point, although it would be very generous to the shareholders if it got approval. Our banks need an injection of capital but it would be better if that capital came from their existing shareholders and the institutions, rather than the State. We live in a free market economy and for that reason it is important that they secure their independence. I would like to see our two banks in a position to repay the capital the State has given them, return to full private ownership and have the freedom to do the business they wish.

It is was not, by and large, the people of this country who got the banks into difficulty. This House had a role in that, when we let the economy run wild for development. My colleagues in the Green Party made the point today, that it started with the local authorities and planners, but we did not correct it. We could have benefited enormously if we had watched that.

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