Michael Noonan (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

He did it under pressure from the House. Now, he has moved again. He is now opening the door to the possibility that moral hazard will apply in Europe and that negotiations could take place with senior bondholders so they, as the Minister put it, would share the burden as well. To disguise the very significant policy move, he warned, "Discussions are ongoing at EU and international level on the mechanisms that may be available in the future to share the fiscal costs of bank resolution with senior creditors of banks other than depositors. However, this work remains preliminary and many important legal, financial and commercial hurdles will need to be cleared...".

Look at the distance the Minister has moved. He lectured Members of the House, saying members of Fine Gael were talking nonsense. He told us this was mission impossible and no negotiations were possible with senior bondholders. He claimed he had legal advice from the Attorney General which made it impossible even to contemplate it. Now he says there are preliminary discussions in Europe that moral hazard should apply-----

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