Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour)

I have listened with interest to the debate, which has been good on both sides of the House. I wish to pick up on one point, however. Deputy Kelleher cautioned Deputies against speaking in such a way that may spook the markets and upset people. The last thing we should do in this House, however, is restrict what we say. We must be honest at all times and be prepared to speak of the worst consequences. It is only by debating in an informed and transparent fashion that we will get good decision making.

This is an unusual political scenario and, as someone who is new to the House, I did not think it would be on the cards so soon. We are talking about a bank restructuring plan and this debate is about the future of the banking sector, how many banks there will be, as well as staffing levels and capital requirements. These points were not addressed in the contributions from Sinn Féin Members, but we need to discuss what kind of banking sector we want. We must discern what it is possible to achieve and which banks will survive.

In recent years, Fianna Fáil took half measures on everything. The consensus of the House is that this attitude needs to change. The Government intends to take decisive action on the future structures of the banking sector, as well as minimising taxpayers' losses. The banking landscape has been completely torched. It is like a scorched earth policy whereby many banks have gone under. The capital has been debased and while there are skeletons of some banks which are still operating, they are not functioning in any healthy shape or form. Something needed to be done and not purely from a banking viewpoint. From a business and personal finance perspective there is a major sense of confusion over the future of the banks. We all have constituents who telephone us with concerns as to whether their money in the bank is safe, their loans are in order or their mortgage and property deeds are safe. We need to put an end to this and create a banking system and structure that is free from the unease which clearly exists at present.

There will be two State banks - the pillar banks, as they are called - centred on Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland. These two banks will be in competition with each other, which is an important aspect of the process as we do not want to return to a duopoly. We are lucky that some foreign State banks, such as Rabobank, are operating here and will help to provide competition in this area. It should be realised that the structure has changed dramatically. Bank of Scotland, Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide are gone, so there is a need for this restructuring to happen sooner rather than later.

I would pick up Deputy McDonald on her comments at Question Time this morning and earlier in this debate that €24 billion has again been put into the banks. That is not the case. An announcement was made last week of the capital requirements of those banks, not how much money was put in.

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