Michael Noonan (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

There is not much point in organising a confidential briefing if what is revealed is already in the public domain and what is confidential cannot be revealed. We need further information and all the details. We got further information later for which I thank the Minister's officials. As I stated, much of the information we required is, we were told, commercially sensitive and cannot be released. We could not get information in regard to the NTMA, which is running the scheme. If the Minister expects us to support the motion, he will need to give us the details. We cannot vote blindly tonight.

I have a number of questions for the Minister. Perhaps he will outline his view of the banking situation going forward. Will he need to extend the guarantee again to March 2011? What are the Minister's expectations in that regard? Is it intended that the schedule of increasing charges will wean the banks off the guarantee by the end of the year or does the Minister envisage the need for a further extension? Will Allied Irish Bank and Bank of Ireland be fully capitalised by Christmas? How long will the wind down of Anglo Irish Bank take? When will credit again flow in the economy? When will the EBS, in respect of which they are four bidders, be sold and will this be the first step in establishing a new high street bank, which will be a type of development bank run in the private sector? Will it be left to the incoming Government to put this in place or will the EBS be run as a building society? We need answers to these issues, which are serious policy concerns in respect of which the Government is silent.

How long will it take before the directors of banks, on whose watch the crisis developed, are replaced? When I raised this issue six months ago, the Minister in reply stated he agreed with me that these directors who were asleep on their watch, even though not personally culpable, would be replaced. As far as I am aware, none have been replaced.

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