Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

It is true. Throwing jibes is not a policy. The cost of plugging the hole that nationalisation policy would have made, would have been significant, far greater than the interest rates we are paying now.

On the question of trying to provide credit into the economy, the issue is that the purchase price of the assets, through the loans under the NAMA process, will determine the level of losses incurred by the banks. That loss, combined with other variables such as existing capital, profitable operations and other assets will determine the level of capital required by the financial institutions. We have made it clear from the first recapitalisation statement that if additional capital is required, our preference is that it should be raised from private sources in the first instance; if this is not possible, the State will provide the capital. If the State provides capital to a financial institution it will take ordinary equity in that institution. We stand ready to provide capital if necessary, as it is essential to have a financial system that can provide credit to protect and create jobs. That is the reason we have had recapitalisation - to protect and create jobs.

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