Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

That is not the question I asked. I asked whether the Taoiseach accepts that the majority of the €22 billion to be put into Anglo Irish Bank will, in the words of Mr. Aynsley, never be seen again. The Taoiseach said that Mr. Aynsley told us what the situation is and went on to say that in the event of an immediate liquidation, this would cost €142 billion. Nobody is talking about an immediate liquidation of Anglo Irish Bank. Neither the Financial Times on 10 March, Mr. Johnson, former chief executive of the IMF nor the Fine Gael Party has ever put forward that proposition. What we did put forward was that there should be a fair sharing of the loss by professional investors in and lenders to Anglo Irish Bank.

This is now a question of policy and of what one is borrowing for. In the case of the Government, it is borrowing to pay off investors in and lenders to Anglo Irish Bank. The alternative is to borrow for infrastructure requirements as part of the capital programme. If one looks at the capital programme, the reduction this year, next year and the year after amounts to approximately €11 billion. That is a reduction of 40%, the equivalent of approximately 40,000 jobs. The Government's case is that it borrowed this money to put into Anglo Irish Bank, which effectively is dead, which will not make a contribution to the economy-----

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