Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

At the end of his contribution on the budget and subsequently, the Minister for Finance confirmed that, in effect, he is planning to nationalise the banking system at some point in the new year. Will the Taoiseach indicate when the relevant legislation in this regard will be introduced and will he outline the format it will take? It appears we are going to commit a further €12 billion to the banking system, including €6 billion to a completely defunct Anglo Irish Bank. This means that the suffering people will be obliged to undergo in the coming years will be largely due to a broken banking system and a rescue mechanism which was not properly thought out by the two Brians, namely, the Taoiseach and his Minister for Finance.

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