Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I am honoured. I thank the electorate of Dublin South for entrusting me as their Dáil Deputy in this Chamber for the next five years. It is a great honour and a privilege. I am here because they have asked me to bring my skills and my experience to the Chamber during our debates and conversations about how we should address this country's problems. I thank the electorate and my family for this privilege.

Today, we have heard many differing views about what faces the country. The Taoiseach has presented the joint programme for Government that has been agreed by Fine Gael and the Labour Party. We have a huge mandate to govern the country as best we can. Essentially, there are two aspects to this problem. The EU, IMF and ECB package attempts to address the fiscal problem, which relates to the disparity between the expenditure and the revenue of the State on an annual basis. In addition, a bank debt problem has arisen because of the huge embedded losses in the banking sector, which the last Government was not willing to admit to and accept. When ones does not admit to the scale of one's problem, one has no chance of mending it.

I commend and congratulate the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance on their initial presentations to their counterparties and colleagues in Europe. They set off and actually did something on behalf of this country. They presented the picture truthfully and well for its first presentation. In the starting days of the new Government's relationship with Europe, the Minister, Deputy Noonan, was right to make the point that there is a doubt about the sustainability of the bank debt. One can take the problem further. As earlier speakers said, there is no point in looking for a magic wand solution within two or three hours, or two or three days. There is a process and although it is not long drawn out, one has to make one's introductions and the discussion has to be positioned properly. I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Noonan, and the Taoiseach on the way they have done that. As the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, noted, it is up to all of us to join in the collective work of bringing our country out of the fog and the swamp. The important starting point is recognising those bank losses because they happened in a way that was exacerbated by the regulatory and supervisory authorities in Europe as well as in this country. When a car accident occurs, the damages are shared out in cases of contributory negligence. That should be the starting point for our discussion with Europe. I am confident that by the end of March we will be making progress towards clarifying the picture by insisting that our European colleagues contribute.

I commend to the House an article written by Professor Karl Whelan in today's The Irish Times which suggests an alternative way of sharing the burden of the banks' losses. It is important that we speak truthfully to the people of Ireland and show them the language of Finance is just another way of expressing the hurt and pain they are suffering through emigration, job losses and collapsing businesses.

See this speech in context