Michael Kennedy (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)

I refer to some comments Deputy English made. He spoke about the Minister for Finance not having the confidence of international investors or the Irish public. The Fine Gael members might like to read opinion polls, although I suspect they might not want to read some of the results. I remind them that the majority of the people have confidence in the Minister for Finance and believe he knows what he is doing and is doing a good job.

After last Thursday's announcement, a number of commentators were complimentary of the Government and the recapitalisation programme. I mention Charlie Fell in Business in The Irish Times on 1 October 2010, Peter Straarup, chief executive of Danske Bank, Kevin Daly, senior economist with Goldman Sachs, and Patrick Honahan, whom we all know. Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister, said she trusted Ireland.

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