Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

In June the Minister is to get the report on the data he has requested various line Ministers to produce. Will he agree to publish the information and to publish the data in full at that time because there is no calculation of the overhang, except the various guesstimates of €7 billion to €8 billion?

I ask the Minister to confirm he now suggesting that it will be for Professor Patrick Honohan to decide and offer a figure to Government of the required level of bank recapitalisation which the Minister just stated he is committed to accepting in advance. That means, in effect, there will be little room for debate. For example, if Professor Honohan comes forward with a figure of €6 billion or €10 billion, either immediately or over a longer period, in the case of Anglo Irish Bank, is the Minister stating that he is committed to accepting that view from Professor Honohan and bringing it to this House for implementation? Last year, we put €4 billion into Anglo Irish Bank, the same amount as the total adjustment sought so painfully in the budget. We took that, as the Minister well knows, from current resources. Is the Minister stating that he now has a device for Professor Honohan to bring forward the level of bank recapitalisation in the case of each of the covered institutions and he will accept that figure, and that there will be no room for bipartisanship in this House as to whether those figures are appropriate? I understood that Professor Honohan was involved in the process and I agree with the Minister that he has brought many valuable insights and a high-quality reputation to the role of Governor of the Central Bank, but I am surprised to hear that the Minister will now accept in total whatever figures for recapitalisation are put forward by the professor.

I understood the Taoiseach to say that after he returns from the United States after St. Patrick's Day, and sometime towards the end of the month, he intends to bring forward proposals on bank recapitalisation. Is the Minister now saying that these, essentially, will be Professor Honohan's proposals and that the Government will merely be the messenger to this House and to the taxpayers as to what the amounts will be?

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