George Lee (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

SPV is for the spiv organisation. Obviously, the Minister was working on it in the background but there was not a debate with the other public representatives - who have a right and a mandate to protect the public interest - until he announced it. The Minister did not announce it until he got the clarification from EUROSTAT that it would do this trick. For the public and for the rest of us here, it is nothing but a trick. At the heart of our concerns about this is the belief that there is a great deal of trickery about it.

The issue of risk sharing was pulled like a rabbit out of a hat. Even prior to being elected to the Dáil, I observed how the Minister dismissed any suggestion from Fine Gael that subordinated bondholders should have to carry the can for some of the investments they had made and take some responsibility for the taking on those losses. The Minister presented the case that it would be catastrophic for the country if the subordinated bondholders had to face some kind of a loss in regard to their investment. At the centrepiece of the Minister's risk sharing element are subordinated bondholders who would not get their money back and there would be nothing wrong with that. The Minister has twisted and turned and has made it up as he went along. It was suggested that the risk sharing element would be a ratio of 50:50, but what we have got is a 5% provision.

It is a very difficult process to do what the Minister has done and he has to make very difficult decisions and has worked hard at them, but at each stage he did not consult other people apart from the people who led us into this. Everybody on this side of the House has very significant difficulties-----

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