Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The approach the Government is taking on this issue is aimed at minimising the cost to the taxpayer of bank restructuring and recapitalisation. We have already included a significant degree of burden sharing with bondholders in respect of what has been done in the case of Irish banks. The total cost of recapitalising them, arising from the decisions we made in March, was originally estimated at €24 billion but is now in the order of €17 billion, largely as a result of burden sharing. These decisions have also resulted in increased private sector interest in Irish banks. All of this is to our advantage.

The Government will take the approach that is in the best interests of the people, but when one considers the situation in Greece, one must also bear in mind the measures that country is required to implement. They are not measures we would want to contemplate here.

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