Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

It was to put the bank back into funds. This comes back to Deputy O'Donnell's point about a national recovery bank. Cash is king and generates the capacity for a bank to lend. Setting up a new bank would mean it would take an extended period to create a realistic presence in the Irish market. That is why the policy of turning around Bank of Ireland, which successfully raised funds on the market on a risk capital basis earlier this year, and Allied Irish Banks, which will be fully capitalised and have market certainty as a result, will enable these two institutions to progress. I am open to examining Deputy Burton's proposal in a constructive way.

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