Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

When I have one minute remaining, the Leas-Cheann Comhairle might let me know.

I am delighted to support this motion and I will touch on a number of points. The public are angry. The national debt has doubled to nearly €100 billion and the banking situation could cost more than €50 billion, €35 billion of which will go into dead banks, namely, Irish Nationwide Building Society, INBS, and Anglo Irish Bank, neither of which will ever lend or function again. People are asking how we have reached this point. The Government and the regulatory system failed the public.

Going back to when this crisis began, Northern Rock failed roughly around September 2007. In April 2008, Anglo Irish Bank's share price collapsed. For a long time prior to the bank guarantee scheme being put in place, the former CEO of the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, stated that he had an issue with providing deposits to Anglo Irish Bank. The Government should have been actively considering putting a bank resolution in place, specifically in respect of Anglo Irish Bank, which will now cost the taxpayer up to €35 billion.

The situation requires that the truth come out. We are two years down the road since putting the guarantee in place, investigations are ongoing and the Garda Commissioner wants something to happen before the end of the year. A number of issues, including the resources required by the Garda, must be addressed. Regarding the back-to-back loans between Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Life & Permanent, it is incredible that an institution like the latter would give €7 billion to another institution that clearly had problems. There was no logical financial reason for it. Was Irish Life & Permanent told to put on the green jersey, as reported by its former CEO? It was a manipulation of Anglo Irish Bank's money. The money was routed through Irish Life & Permanent and returned as consumer deposits rather than interbank deposits.

The golden share transaction with Anglo Irish Bank was done by way of contracts for difference. Effectively, the taxpayer could end up bailing out the cost of the transaction.

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