Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I hope the Taoiseach is not accusing me or the Fine Gael Party of introducing language such as "banjaxery" or "morbid corpses" in respect of our country. I spoke the truth when I said that the decision made last weekend has foisted upon the shoulders of every single person in the country a debt that will not be paid off for a generation or more. That is the truth of the Ireland that we live in now.

The Taoiseach also spoke about having a rational debate about serious issues, and I think that is true. However, the Taoiseach should recall sitting on these benches when issues of extradition were being discussed and other sensitive issues in respect of Northern Ireland were being discussed between ourselves and Great Britain. Every day, one Opposition spokesperson after another created holy hell in the 1990s in respect of issues that were sensitive at the time. I am not using that as a justification for what is happening now. The reason there is anger and viciousness out there is that people do not believe the Government. The reason they do not believe the Government is based on sound history. For the past few years, Minister after Minister, but especially the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance, came in here and spoke elsewhere outside this House. They stated that green shoots were appearing, that we had turned the corner, that NAMA would provide a wall of cash, that credit would be available for small businesses and that this was the cheapest bailout in history on which the people actually would make a profit. Did I or did I not hear those words? I think I heard them from Minister after Minister.

The reason the population now is angry and quite vicious is that there has been no clarity of agenda on the part of the Government as to where we are headed. This was epitomised by the Taoiseach's own words this evening when he stated the Government was bringing forward a proposal. This is not a proposal from the Government but is a capitulated statement because it has been put together by technicians and civil servants and adopted by the political process. The Taoiseach is aware that politicians are not technocrats but are elected representatives of the people and, as such, have two fundamental responsibilities to carry through. First, they must identify solutions and, second, they must make decisions.

In this case, what happened was that this statement, decision and deal was put together by people who are not elected. They tossed it around for a number of weeks and eventually came to a conclusion that was endorsed and accepted by the Minister for Finance on behalf of the Irish people and Government.

This was not done in my name because I do not understand the negotiations that were conducted here. I note the Taoiseach is an experienced campaigner. This was a situation in which one was told by the Minister for Finance and other Ministers that no negotiations were under way about any bailout, that no representatives from the IMF were in Ireland, that no representatives from the European Central Bank or the European Commission had been over in the Department of Finance for a number of weeks and that there were no discussions between the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Britain and Irish civil servants from the Department of Finance on a bilateral contribution from Great Britain. One subsequently found out all these things were happening when eventually the Governor of the Central Bank, while standing on a street in Frankfurt, decided to ring the national broadcaster and state the discussions pertained to tens of billions of euro being drawn down as a loan at a then undetermined interest rate, which subsequently has been set at 5.83%.

These are some of the reasons the population is as angry as it is. I do not understand the reason the Government was not in a position to place political bargaining at the centre of matters. Whatever the respected academic, regulator and civil servants were able to put together, surely one ultimately must introduce politics and politicians to decide what is the best deal, given the circumstances we face. The reason Ireland is in this position is that the Government would not listen. Two and a half years ago, the Fine Gael Party proposed that Anglo Irish Bank be wound down but was scoffed at. The Fine Gael Party proposed that subordinated bondholders should make their contribution as part of the solution but again was scoffed at. Eventually, however, such things have come to pass. Chancellor Merkel stated there should be a bank resolution legislation system whereby senior bondholders certainly could be part of the negotiations for a winding down of banks when such an event took place. Commissioner Almunia wrote to me this week and stated he is pursuing this element of legislation within the Commission at present but that until then, we are bound by existing regulations.

I was struck by the announcement or admission on RTE yesterday by the Governor of the Central Bank that, in his words, what has happened was not his preferred option. He wanted a form of insurance scheme whereby were there to be drawdowns or difficulties with banks, a scheme would be put in place.

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