Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I wish to begin by speaking about these reports. Anyone who has listened to certain economists over recent years will wonder whether they are living in the real world. Many economists told us the boom would last for another 14 or 15 years. It is hard to believe economists. The same guys are now preaching and blaming everybody. The economists who were advising the Government, the Minister for Finance and the banks let the country down badly. What went on in the banks was criminal. There was no regulation. We have discussed this previously. The blame game is taking place at present. These reports have been published. We know what the problems were. I hope we have learned lessons for the future. I hope we will have strong regulation without any interference from the Government. The banks let down the people and the country. They have got away with murder. I spoke on these matters yesterday.

I read a report about tax defaulters in a newspaper today. They did not do half as much damage as the banks to this economy and this country. Their names are in black and white in one of today's newspapers. It is rare to see professional bankers brought to justice. Party colleagues of mine have advised me not to give out in the Dáil about bankers. They say we should never give out about bankers. If some bankers do not end up in jail, it will be clear that there is no law and order in this country. The people are telling me the law is for the poor but not for the rich. I hope the fraud squad, the enforcement officers and the Garda Síochána do their jobs sharply. It is very easy to catch petty criminals and bring them before the courts. The Director of Public Prosecutions has no difficulty sending out warrants for them so they can be prosecuted in court. We want to see bankers prosecuted in the courts by the end of the year. It is not enough for their homes or offices to be searched by gardaí, in the presence of RTE cameras. We want to show the people of this country that law and order applies to the rich man as much as it does to the poor man. That has never happened in this country in the past.

This is not the first time we have bailed out the banks. We had to bail them out on many other occasions. Why would they not do it again, given that they got away with it previously? These reports have identified that the Taoiseach, the Government, the bankers and the regulators all failed to do their duties. The regulator was given a reward in the form of a big cheque. The Minister for Finance was made Taoiseach. The bankers were sent on holidays out to Spain. That is the kind of reward we have given to the people who put this economy and this country in the state it is in. Young families will be forever paying back their debts for property they will never own, for which they paid too much and which is now undervalued.

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