Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)

That was a culture of finance for favouritism or favouritism for finance - it can be put either way and means the same thing. As a result many people in very high positions in this country are not fit for the jobs they have but they are there because they are the cronies and friends of that culture. At the very worst one can say they were bought by the Government. We have witnessed billions of euro being transferred from one bank to the other to cover up so that what was happening would not become obvious to the ordinary individual. The Government backbenchers did not blame the regulator or anybody else; they blamed the Opposition, which they regard as a soft touch.

We are now suffering from what happened in the Haughey era. They also speak about the Garda investigation, which will be thorough because gardaí are professional and will get to the bottom of it. However, they were not helped by decisions made by the two Brians to leave Anglo Irish Bank alone, give it an unlimited guarantee and then some months later let in the authorities when those guys had transferred their assets, covered their tracks and are now out in the sunny climes with their bellies up to the sun, laughing at the ordinary people who are paying the price. Deputy Thomas Byrne spoke about anger; by God, is it any wonder that the people are angry? A mother with a couple of children can be jailed for stealing food to feed them, but these guys can travel the world.

I started with a quote from Collins and will end with one. In a letter to Desmond FitzGerald on 12 July 1922 he stated:

What we must aim at is the building of a sound economic life in which great discrepancies cannot occur. We must not have destitution or poverty at one end, and at the other an excess of riches in the possession of a few individuals, beyond what they can spend with satisfaction and justification.

I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, to pass that on to the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance.

See this speech in context