Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

I assure the Taoiseach I am not at all confused because I sat in this House for ten years while this insanity was going on and people like myself were referred to as contrarians in this report. The Taoiseach, however, was not a contrarian and nor was his party. Not once did it raise a voice of opposition to the level of profiteering in which developers and bankers were engaged on the backs of young working people being saddled with 40-year mortgages. The Taoiseach should examine the Official Report of the Dáil and if he finds it, he should show it to me in this Chamber in the future.

This morning, the Minister for Finance implicitly stated that nothing would be done about this further bank robbery of €3 million because there was a contract. In 2009, a draconian Act was passed, namely, the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act, which the Government continues to implement and which has slashed the wages of-----

See this speech in context