Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Many business people in the country who are in difficulty with the Revenue Commissioners would love to be sent some nice soothing message from the Government asking them to pay the money and stating it would do everything it can to recover the money. Unfortunately, what happens in these cases is that the Revenue Commissioners go after them like mad and they end up dealing with the sheriff, being taken to court and being put out of business. The same thing happens where someone gets overpaid on social welfare. There is not much mercy around in these cases nor are there many nice, pleasant remarks from the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste suggesting it would be nice if these people voluntarily returned the money. There seems to be an entirely different set of rules for Mr. Fingleton in that the Tánaiste says it would be nice if he returned the money and that she notes he said he would do so voluntarily. What is the Government doing to get the money back? The taxpayer owns this building society now and as Deputy Kenny said, it is clear the amount Mr. Fingleton paid himself in the early part of the year - €55,000 a month - was considerably in excess of what the CIROC committee determined he should be paid and on top of that he received a bonus. Has the Government done anything to require that this money be paid back, rather than issue soothing remarks regarding Mr. Fingleton?

In respect of the Government's overall strategy on the banks, which has been the subject of debate in the House, it is clear the Government no longer appears to have a majority in the House for its bank strategy. We heard what Deputy Fleming said yesterday. Deputy Joan Burton, who sat here throughout the debate on the Central Bank Reform Bill yesterday told me about a number of contributions from individual Deputies on the Government side. She drew my attention to the remarkable consistency in the arguments being made by some of them. All of them were distancing themselves from what the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister for Finance say is Government policy in respect of the banks.

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