Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy O'Donnell and Fine Gael. This is an important amendment and it adds to the section. On the general point on whether the President will sign the legislation in advance of seeking EU approval they are separate matters entirely. Once the legislation is passed in this House and in the Seanad later this afternoon, it will go to the President. The matter of EU approval does not involve the President. I agree with the general discussion we are having as part of this grouping of amendments; the test of this legislation will be whether credit begins to flow in the economy once again. Only time will answer that question.

Deputy Rabbitte made a very important intervention in his contribution. He stated that we were agreed there were a number of options to deal with distressed assets on banks' balance sheets. There are very many options to deal with those. They can be dealt with over a period of time through nationalisation, a position with which we do not agree at this stage. There are other options, including that proposed by Fine Gael. The point is that this is the option we believe best allows the banks to acquire cash quickly with the support of the European Central Bank, which we have——

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