Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

I welcome the motion. In our hearts, many of us would favour it. Unfortunately, however, our hearts are ruled by our heads and we must look to the amendment brought forward by the Government. I use the word "unfortunately" because there is a certain reality which must be acknowledged.

Those of us who were Members of the previous Dáil are aware of how difficult the situation was when we voted on the bank guarantee on 1 October 2008. On that date Labour Party Members voted against the guarantee, while all other Members voted in favour of it. There are Members present in the Chamber who spoke very strongly in favour of the guarantee but who completely repudiate it now. Most of our liabilities flow from the decisions taken on that occasion. The policy decisions taken in the years prior to 2008, the lack of regulation in the financial system and the greed of certain people led us the situation in which we found ourselves. However, the decisions taken on that fateful day - 1 October 2008 - led us to take on a legal liability in respect of the bank guarantee which covered the secured banks to the tune of €500 billion. In turn, this led to the promissory notes relating to Anglo Irish Bank and the Irish Nationwide Building Society being signed. We should have allowed these two institutions to go to the wall in 2008. We should have allowed Anglo Irish Bank to go bust when it was a private institution, not now when it is in the ownership of the State. We cannot go back and rewrite history. We should have stood up at the time - those of us in the Labour Party did do so - and stated it was a private bank and that its liabilities were also private.

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