Michael Kennedy (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)

The Irish taxpayer will pick it up. Let us deal with reality.

On the Labour Party plan for the national recovery bank, which proposes to take €2 billion from the National Treasury Management Agency, from where would it get the liquid cash to lend to people? Anyone who knows anything about economics knows that one cannot lend one's capital. They will have to rob the depositors from AIB and Bank of Ireland. We have learned in the past two months that €21 billion has disappeared from the deposit accounts of both banks. For the Labour Party to suggest that this magic national recovery bank will solve all of our problems is ridiculous and they know it. Let us tell the people the truth

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