Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

Almost every Member of this House will accept that the previous Government in making the decisions it made in relation to Anglo Irish Bank was criminally misled by the bank about the scale of the losses it had on its books. Deputy Twomey is correct that taking on this enormous burden has had spill-over affects across the European Union.

The EFSF has been replaced with the ESM which has a mandate for recapitalising banks. Given there was no such fund in place when the decisions were made in respect of Anglo Irish Bank, surely there is an exceptionally strong case for the Irish Government to press for those funds to be used in a cost effective manner to ease this burden.

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