Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The Minister of State used the terms "grey area" and "fringe". The only fringe that comes to my mind when discussing Anglo Irish Bank is some kind of fringe tragi-comedy festival of theatre. Perhaps in his other hat, as Minister of State in the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy Mansergh is thinking of his theatrical experience.

Without doubt, Anglo Irish Bank deserves a film of its own to recount the skullduggery and events there. On or around St. Patrick's Day 2008, when the Anglo Irish Bank share price collapsed, everyone in the senior echelons of Fianna Fáil knew that the party was over. What people did not know then was that all of us, public servants, cleaners, teachers, nurses, doctors, etc., would have to pay for it. That is what the Government is doing. In a democracy, a sense of proportion and fairness is essential to retain the consent of the people to being ruled by a Government. The Government is bankrupt of ideas and is still seeking to protect its pals in Anglo Irish Bank and its developer pals.

The point is that Anglo Irish Bank is the developers' bank and Fianna Fáil is the developers' political party. They comprise the golden triangle. One should bear in mind the aftermath of the St. Patrick's Day massacre that affected Anglo Irish Bank's shares and the incapacity of the Quinn family to meet the calls on the contracts for difference in which it had dabbled. It made a loss of approximately €2 billion, according to itself. The "Maple 10", "Maple 12" or golden circle are now sitting on tax losses of €460 million and will be able to reclaim them at some stage.

The discussions between the Government and the unions apparently broke down because of the incapacity to define the 12-day lay-off due to the suggestion that it could be claimed back easily, yet the golden circle in Anglo Irish Bank has its own claim-back facility worth €460 million in respect of an unreal transaction. As far as we can make out, it is a made-up, fake transaction on foot of which those concerned will be able to claim back €460 million associated with tax losses from now until they have made sufficient profits. The Minister for Finance confirmed this to me in response to a recent parliamentary question. This is like living in the world of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland where words mean what one wants them to mean. Fianna Fáil will knock public servants and hold Anglo Irish Bank dear to its little heart and ensure that it is protected because it has a commercial mandate.

Earlier, the Minister of State referred to the golden era of public service trade unions and implied the era is over. Partnership is over but the golden era of Anglo Irish Bank is not. Some time in the next ten years, we are to hear from the Director of the Office of Corporate Enforcement. I am sure he is doing his best to proceed with speed but, at present, the procedure is very slow.

In the United States, there was a Madoff moment and people who have been identified as having done wrong must face the courts of that country and accept the consequences of their actions. The Irish public has endured huge cuts to social welfare, public servants have had a huge cut in their wages, there have been very many laid off in the private sector, and companies are starved of credit nationally. Today, Fianna Fáil is dishing out more pain and one should consider this in light of its golden era of golden connections with Anglo Irish Bank and the developers. The new motto for Fianna Fáil is not "A nation once again" but "Cherish Anglo Irish once again".

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