Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)

Those who thought the movie "Wall Street" was far-fetched should read the two banking reports, which highlight a world of corporate greed, political ineptitude and disastrous regulatory failure. One could not make this stuff up. The cycle of boom and bust is as old as recorded history. Wise leaders should use the wealth of good times to weather the storms that inevitably follow. It is a question of prudence. Many members of recent Cabinets were supposed to be accountants, although I would question Deputy Bertie Ahern's qualifications as an accountant. They should have known that in good times, one should save money for the bad times. That did not happen, however. Over the course of more than ten years of prosperity, sufficient wealth was generated not only to address our infrastructural deficits but also to retain enough in the Government kitty to carry us safely through the global financial crisis. The Government squandered the fruits of the boom, however, and allowed the banking community to lose the nation's wealth on a massive property crap game. The greatest economic opportunity ever given to any Irish Government was not just missed - incredibly, it was turned into a financial trap from which people of my age and my child's age will struggle to escape for the next 30 or 40 years. Not since Herbert Hoover sleep-walked America into the Great Depression has a political leader destroyed so much in such a short space of time. The Taoiseach, Deputy Cowen, and his predecessor, Deputy Bertie Ahern, have entered the record books for all the wrong reasons.

Many people will have a noose around their necks for the next 30 or 40 years as they try to repay mortgages, credit union loans and other personal debts. In many cases, their houses are not even worth half the value of their mortgages. We have spoken about credit unions. They are stuck with their debts because the boom suited Fianna Fáil, for many reasons. Every time a house was sold, the Government received taxes - PRSI, PAYE and VAT, etc. - worth approximately 40% of the total cost of the house. It was worth its while to maintain that position. Year after year, it used that money to drive up expenditure and buy elections. The biggest thing that went wrong was that the Government planned an election in 2001, but that was prevented by the outbreak of foot and mouth disease. We had another year of massive expenditure in advance of the 2002 election. Spending was hyped up for two years to try to buy votes. The Government did the same thing in 2006 and 2007. The two reports make it clear that expenditure increased by 11% and 10% in those years. I suggest that was done to buy votes at election time.

I do not have confidence in the ability of the Taoiseach and his Ministers to run this country and get us out of these problems because their decision-making in past years was fundamentally wrong and will have a serious impact on people's lives in the years ahead. These decisions were made consciously - not by mistake. The Taoiseach has come in here with a half-hearted apology. On other occasions, he said he received bad advice but I do not accept that. There were enough Ministers to make good decisions. They received warnings from this side of the House. Deputy Kenny was right earlier when he said the former Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, appointed Deputy Cowen as Minister for Finance because he knew he would do what he was told. Year after year, I sat behind Deputy Bruton on budget day when he clearly warned that what the Government was doing was wrong.

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