Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

The current Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton. She made an interesting aside, in that she claimed the Bill was too late. Indeed, she emphasised it several times. She stated:

It is too late because the horse has bolted since the expiry of the original bank guarantee, and too little because it does nothing to address the treatment of liabilities other than subordinated bondholders. It fails to address the issue of senior bondholders now out of the guarantee, the debts for whom amount up to €20 billion.

She also stated:

When any private company goes bust because of reckless trading, its private investors are supposed to lose out if they made a bad bet. If the shortfall between assets and liabilities is greater than shareholders' capital, not only do shareholders lose their shirts, but losses are passed up the line to other creditors depending on their seniority - first to subordinated bondholders and then to other unsecured creditors, including senior bondholders. These are the fundamental rules of a functioning market economy. Using State funds to bail out private investors would be a cynical example of socialism for capitalists.

Is the Government now implementing socialism for capitalists?

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