Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I oppose the proposal in regard to the arrangements for No. a17 and do so for the following reasons. First, the item is entitled "Statements on Banking". Statements on Banking is not an adequate proposal to deal with the issues which must now be discussed in this House. It is not possible to separate the issue of banking from the wider issue of the State's finances and the general economic situation. As I understand it, the meeting of the eurozone Ministers and ECOFIN, which the Minister for Finance attended, dealt with a wider range of matters than banking. I will return to this point later.

Second, only 95 minutes has been provided for Statements on Banking. This is not an adequate proposal in circumstances where this country is being humiliated by the manner in which the Government has been dealing with the financial situation and international institutions.

Third, these arrangements are not adequate because of the information that has been provided to the public this morning by the Governor of the Central Bank - information that the Taoiseach pointedly refused to provide to the House yesterday.

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