Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I thank my party colleague, Deputy Noonan, for an opportunity to speak on this crucial issue. Of most concern to me is the degree to which the Opposition was appealed to in recent months to be constructive and to support the Government in its future projections and policies. We were also asked to support the likely conclusions of the negotiations that were held in Brussels in recent weeks. Amazingly, there was no provision for the Opposition to make an input into those negotiations. We were expected to give a carte blanche. We could not make any submission whatsoever to the European institutions or the personalities involved in the arrangement before the House. Worse still, elected Members who were supposed to represent the country had little participation in those deliberations. This concerns me greatly. It appears that a prescription, one which it is deemed will resolve our problems, is about to be administered to the people of this country, but some of us believe it will create even greater problems. It is about to be visited upon a luckless public who did not call for the situation at which we have arrived.

I worry about the far-reaching consequences of the route that has been embarked upon. I respectfully suggest that the Government should re-examine some of the provisions it agreed in recent weeks. It should then revise its opinions, particularly those on growth. I cannot understand how the growth projection figures put out by the Government and discounted by European institutions could sit alongside the punitive fiscal measures that have been proposed.

Another issue must be borne in mind. A theme seems to be running across European opinion to the effect that a number of countries must be severely punished for what has occurred. Perhaps the economic model we pursued in recent years was not as water-tight or correct as it should have been. While Ireland and its Government made several mistakes culminating in the debt now being foisted upon the public, it would appear that there were also flaws in the economic policy pursued at EU level.

At a meeting in Brussels some time ago when confronted with assertions by banking and investment institutions that the old ways did not work and new ways to deal with the situation needed to be found, a senior European administrator was quick to point out that the old and established ways did work and had done so for generations, but were ignored while new ways that no one observed were introduced. Unfortunately, this is what occurred in Ireland. If it also occurred across Europe, which seems to be the case, there is a serious and fundamental problem that cannot be resolved by this country on its own, only by the EU's full recognition that everyone in the bubble was responsible. A great deal of blame has been attached to the global economic downturn, Lehman Brothers and all the other things, and the worldwide recession. It is true that there is a worldwide problem, and it is serious, but this country has its own problem. It was built on the property bubble, when the property market here became a lending and borrowing institution, and the whole thing went crazy and went off the rails.

There have always been economic norms in lending and borrowing, what is prudent and what is not. These have been accepted internationally. Why were they ignored for so long? We are still ignoring them in this House, even today. I raised a question about various legislative proposals in relation to banking, control and regulation, and the situation still has not changed. After September 2008, I would have thought one of the first things that should have taken place is the type of institutional reform and change to which I refer.

I hope the Government fully understands the magnitude of what has happened. I do not get great pleasure in blaming anybody for it, because unfortunately the main Opposition parties now have to carry the responsibility for bringing this country through what it is a very serious problem. I hope the Government when in Opposition will be as helpful as it claims the Opposition now should be, and has been.

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