Michael Noonan (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

I find it hard to believe that all these baddies would not have been aware of that on the night of the introduction of the guarantee. I have always said that if the Minister gives absolute assurances on the record of the House I will take his word. Against that background, I find it hard to believe.

If the Minister wants Fine Gael's support tonight he will have to explain how all this happened and how it is he did not know Anglo Irish Bank was insolvent. He will have to answer our questions in detail. We, on this side of the House, are no longer buying pigs in pokes. I require two further assurances. All over Europe, Parliaments are moving to enact bank resolution legislation that gives central banks new powers to wind down or break up failing banks in a way that fairly shares the cost with all professional providers of capital and long-term funding. When banks failed here and in other jurisdictions, central banks found that they did not have a statutory policy instrument that enabled them to intervene to wind down or break up failing banks. There was no equivalent to appointing a receiver to a commercial company. The central banks did not have that power.

As a condition of supporting this motion, Fine Gael needs a commitment that the Minister will introduce by 1 November 2010 legislation along the lines proposed, as is being done all over Europe. We also need a commitment that the Government will require Anglo Irish Bank to reach a negotiated settlement with subordinate bond holders so that the burden on the taxpayer may be eased. I do not foresee a problem in that regard. Anglo Irish Bank under the chairmanship of Mr. Alan Dukes has been doing deals with subordinate bond holders and has improved the bank's balance sheet. As I understand it, the guarantee only covered subordinated debt that was dated. Open-ended subordinate debt was not covered. The secondary market is selling off some of this debt at 17 cent in the euro. I cannot foresee any difficulty of dealing straight up with the subordinate debt.

There are many questions about the extended guarantee which need to be explored. The Minister's officials briefed the Opposition finance spokespersons on the special instrument this morning. However, the briefing did not go much beyond what one would glean from a press release. The information was helpful and the officials clarified a great deal for me and spared me a great deal of reading. It is much faster to be briefed across the table. When issues of detail were raised the Minister's officials appeared to be prohibited from answering either because of considerations of commercial sensitivity or because of a directive from him.

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