Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)

I listened to Fine Gael Deputy Peter Mathews commending debt for equity swaps and he referenced an economist who made the suggestion some weeks ago. He may not have been listening to what Sinn Féin has been stating for a long time but debt for equity swaps are among the proposals that we have put forward. I hope the issue will be considered.

We are dealing with burden sharing and I seek a clear answer on the matter. This is an important issue for all of us, especially taxpayers. The Minister has referenced the fact that the stress tests will be known to us in the next week or so. We are unsure what the figure will be but we all estimate it will be in excess of €10 billion. The Taoiseach has committed that no more than €10 billion will go into those banks until burden sharing is on the table. We will not get burden sharing from the European Union tomorrow or, at least, I do not imagine it will be agreed to. Am I mistaken or is it not the case that, as announced by the Taoiseach last week, no more than €10 billion will be invested in the banks regardless of whether the stress tests call for €12 billion, €25 billion or €35 billion until burden sharing has been achieved in some form, be it debt for equity swaps, the European Central Bank taking equity in some of our banks or a direct hit on senior bondholders?

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