Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

What is wrong with that reply is that we must drag the information out of the Taoiseach. This is not private business but public business. We are in an unusual position in that the Government, in its final days, is in the process of negotiating what the Taoiseach now calls a very big overdraft on behalf of the people of the country. As late as a week ago, the Taoiseach was denying he was applying for such an overdraft. What he is providing us with here is just incremental information. He is telling us that the figure of €85 billion has been mentioned and that the Minister for Finance said the figure will be less than €100 billion, which gives some indication of the range the Taoiseach is talking about.

Let us concentrate on the bank element. I accept that the interest rate and other matters are being negotiated and that, in order to achieve the best outcome in the interests of the country and taxpayer, the Taoiseach will not go into detail in this regard. I understand that and will not push him on it. However, I will push him about the banks because he has given the House and country a bum steer on them for a very long time. The Taoiseach states in the House that if we had gone down the route of temporary nationalisation, which the Labour Party advocated at the beginning of 2009, everything would be worse. If we had gone down that route, we would be coming out of the problem now and our banks would not be mired in the NAMA process that the Taoiseach got us into.

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