Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I remember the first time I raised the issue of banks with the Taoiseach. On 25 June 2008, I stated: "[T]he banks are closed to new businesses". I said the banks appeared to be squeezing the life out of many businesses because they would not lend to them. That was before the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the introduction of the bank guarantee. The Taoiseach stated in his reply: "It is important to point out ... that, as the Central Bank has confirmed, the Irish banking system is well capitalised and is in a healthy state in terms of its own financial situation". Three months later, we discovered that was not the case.

At that time, when the Labour Party challenged the introduction of the blanket guarantee, the Taoiseach said: "[I]t is my intention to ensure the Irish taxpayer will not be held liable in any way for any deficit that might occur in the event of there being a problem in the future". We have paid €11 billion to the banks since the Taoiseach told us it would not cost anything, and now, apparently, we will have to pay more. AIB and Anglo Irish Bank have lined up with the lámh amach arís. They are coming again for more capitalisation, and the Taoiseach tells us he stands ready to provide capital. How many more times will he get it wrong before he realises the Government will need to change its position on the banks? How many more people will lose their jobs? How many more businesses will go to the wall? For how much more money does the Taoiseach intend to beggar those who are at work today, their children and possibly their grandchildren to pay for a failed banking system?

The Government's banking policy is not working and because of this, people are out of work. It is about time it changed tack on the banking system instead of maintaining its dogged approach and saying it was always right. The Taoiseach told the Labour Party a year ago in the House that he would not accept the policy we were advocating at the time, which was temporary nationalisation. That is fair enough; we can differ over policy. However, even as recently as this morning, some fairly cautious commentators on the radio were telling us it was now inevitable that nationalisation would take place. How much does the State have to own before one can say a bank is nationalised?

It is time the Taoiseach woke up to the reality that the Government's banking policy is not working. It is not working in the interests of the taxpayer, of businesses, or those who are losing their jobs, and it is time to change it. If the Taoiseach is not prepared to accept the alternatives proposed by the Labour Party, Fine Gael or anybody else-----

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