Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

I will get to that; the Deputy has already had his chance. The Bill is about making sure the banking system remains in private ownership and is protected from any serious public control, with profit maximisation as a central goal.

If we are to deal with the causes of the banking crisis, should we not ask what caused it? Was it not caused by the pursuit of profit maximisation at all costs, with no consideration of other factors? That was precisely the problem and it is not just me who says that; Peter Nyberg said that the crisis was reinforced in a widespread international belief in the efficiency of financial markets, talking about group think and the herd mentality in believing that nonsense. Nyberg recognises the pursuit of profit over every other consideration by the financial crisis is the reason we have this crisis but the ECB, in its guidelines for dealing with the banks, says we must not divert from the goal of profit maximisation. We have learned nothing; the report tells us what the problem is, then the ECB tells us we must do nothing about it. Any measures we take must do nothing about it and the public must bear the cost. That is the reality of the Bill. All it says is that if there is another crisis, we will have some sort of fund the banks will put some money into so perhaps the cost to the public will be minimised, never questioning the driving force behind the crisis, the pursuit of profit at all costs.

It is not necessary to be a socialist or revolutionary-----

See this speech in context