Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I want to ask the Taoiseach what is going on. Last week the cost of State borrowing reached record levels and last Thursday morning I asked the Tánaiste on the Order of Business if the Minister for Finance was going to make a statement either that day or sometime over the weekend about the very turbulent financial situation the country was facing. No such statement was made. However, we had a series of quite extraordinary developments over the weekend. On Friday morning we had the statement that emerged from the meeting of the G20 in Korea. By lunchtime of that day there was speculation in news media outside the country either that Ireland was seeking some kind of state bailout or that some kind of European support for the State was being discussed. All through the weekend the Taoiseach and some of his Ministers were making statements to the effect - as he repeated in reply to Deputy Kenny - that no application for European assistance or no application to the European fund was being made.

We need to get some clarity. I am not sure what the Taoiseach was saying in reply to Deputy Kenny. I accept what has been said that no application has been made. What types of contacts have been taking place between the European institutions and the Government over the course of the weekend? Were they at Central Bank level, official level or ministerial level? Has there been any suggestion from European sources that some assistance is to be provided to the State or is it the case, as is being speculated in this morning's newspapers, that what is now being discussed is in effect another bailout for the banks, this time through the European institutions? What are the implications of that for the State's finances? In his reply to Deputy Kenny the Taoiseach appeared to be acknowledging that the Irish banks now need a further bailout. I believe the phrase he used was "banking stability"; he made a couple of references to that. The people want to hear a clear statement from the Taoiseach as to what is going on, what is being negotiated, what kinds of conditions are being attached to it and over what period of time.

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