Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

This is not the case. As the Governor of the Central Bank has previously indicated, over the period 2008 to 2012, the total loan losses of the domestically-owned banks are expected to reach €70 billion to €80 billion, equivalent to approximately half of this year's GDP. Loan losses on this scale are unforgivable. They reflect the recklessness of lending decisions during the bubble years and the weakness of the previous regulatory framework. We must ensure they never happen again.

What is almost entirely overlooked, however, is the fact that tens of billions of these losses have been absorbed by the private shareholders in the banks. It is clear there has been no taxpayer bailout for bank shareholders. Neither has there been a bailout for holders of banks' subordinated bonds. These bondholders have absorbed losses of about €7 billion to date and legislation to facilitate further burden-sharing by subordinated bondholders will be submitted to the Oireachtas next week.

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