Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

There will be plenty of time for the Taoiseach and I to argue about who was right and wrong in respect of our judgments on the bank guarantee which tied the banks to the State and which has resulted in the State being dragged into the quagmire. We will come back to that. We are now in a situation where European institutions and the IMF are knocking on the door; they are on their way. The Taoiseach is continuing, with the greatest of respect, to treat the Irish people as though they do not understand this . They do understand it and they understand its significance.

I am trying to establish the Government's position. I read the statement, I know from where they are coming and I can picture the kind of discussions which are likely to take place. There is no point pretending this is some kind of an exercise being done by a few PhD students who have come here just tried to establish some information. This is serious. I do not want the kind of general exposition which the Taoiseach has just given us. I want to know the Government's position with regard to the intended outcome of these discussions.

Is it the case that the provision of additional money for the bank is to be discussed? If that is the case, were we not told in September that we had received the final figure in respect of support for the banks? Is it now the case that the final figure is no longer the final figure? Can the Taoiseach give us some indication as to the extent of the level of assistance which will be required for the banks? I ask that question because I am aware that figures are already in circulation in the media about the possible extent of the support which the banks require.

Does the Taoiseach expect that conditions will be discussed with the IMF and the European institutions which will apply to the State? Will the Government and its successors have to be committed to such conditions in respect of public policy and budgetary matters in return for whatever assistance is being provided for the banks?

Can the Taoiseach tell the House what is the Government's objective? What is the Taoiseach's intended outcome from those discussions? What are his bottom lines in respect of those discussions and, in particular, in respect of conditions that might be attached to the State?

It is bad enough that for the last week we have had an entire pretence from the Government that this was not happening at all, there were going to be no discussions, there was no assistance, nobody was talking to anybody and nobody knew anything about the IMF, the EU or the ECB. It was all fiction according to the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern. We have had enough of that now.

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