Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

No, this country is going to drown in inquiries, but that will not result in an extra euro of credit getting out to businesses in the country that are hanging on by their fingernails and letting employees go. This inquiry will take into account the actions of banks that have, clearly, lied to NAMA. The Government accepted those lies uncritically and told us the Irish banks were fine because stress testing showed they were fine. It is proposed that we deal with this matter in one hour and ten minutes and that the debate will be guillotined. That time will allow approximately only one person from each of the parties, including the Government, to speak briefly. In terms of parliamentary democracy, that is completely inadequate. The guillotine is not appropriate to this particular motion. It used to be the case that before the summer recess there would be a two to three-day Adjournment debate on the performance of the Government, the situation of the economy and the plight of the unemployed. This Government is running away from telling people how it proposes to recover the economy, rebuild the country and get people back to work.

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