Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

Perhaps the Deputy is right. Certainly, I would agree with him that this was an absolute disaster and it has been extremely badly handled by Ulster Bank and by RBS as well. It has taken far too long. Deadlines that were solemnly given have been broken time and again over the last two weeks.

What the Deputy is suggesting is that the Central Bank should have a unit that duplicates the IT expertise of the banks. There is only so far we can go. I do not think we need literally hundreds of public servants on stand-by waiting to move in when an accident happens once in five years or once in ten years. There is a limit to how far we can go.

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