Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

While I understand why Anglo Irish Bank did not cost that option it is inexplicable why the Government did not do so and explain to us in clear terms why it has chosen to bail out all those people rather than allow the normal principles of capitalism to apply in a bank that no one other than a few people in the Government parties believes is of systemic importance to this country. I repeat what Mr. Colm McCarthy said, the onus is on the Minister and the Government to explain why this is the right decision.

As far as I can see the calculation is that the bond markets looking at Ireland Incorporated would take a view that it would be far worse to invest in a country that decided a busted flush bank such as Anglo Irish Bank was not important. The implication is that investors would worry about a country that faces reality and says a bank run in a buccaneering way is of no importance. I believe the bond markets would not look on matters in that way. They would recognise that the country had accepted it had commitments to the people and to the future of the nation, not a busted flush bank, and that it wanted to put its scarce €40 billion, if it could pull it together, into building strong arteries for economic recovery. This is not a normal bank and these are not normal times. This is a bank that has behaved recklessly and does not deserve the commitment of the taxpayer for which, as the Minister indicated, the banks should be grateful.

We should not offer Anglo Irish Bank that cover. A different case could be made for the other banks, namely Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland. I recognise that they are systemically important. They run our ATMs, pay our mortgages, keep bank accounts going and business flowing. I recognise that we have to do special things to face up to the difficulties experienced by those banks. There is an assumption that the Government should not apply the rules of capitalism and that we should bail out this bank. The Minister will cite learned bankers who would say that is correct but it is worth saying that the people who recognised the oncoming juggernaut of the property collapse are not on-side. Those who saw and issued the warnings do not believe this is the way to deal with Anglo Irish Bank. It is important that we take on board that view, which was not listened to at the time it was made. The fear of the contagion from not supporting Anglo Irish Bank and all its bond holders should be put under severe scrutiny.

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