Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

It was a fundamental and difficult change. Indeed, it is the change that has excited international approval because it is seen as a Government clearly in command. That is the most important message that Ireland must send out at present.

We are holding an inquiry into banking, and no doubt we will have an inquiry into other matters. The scope of that inquiry will give ample time to look back and see where there were failings in the system. I am not standing up here denying that there were failures in the past, but if there were failures, they were failures of a similar type to those which took place in many other countries as well. What I can speak of is the response that was required by the Department to those failures. The response was swift and the quality of advice I received on an appropriate response to the crisis that emerged was sound.

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