Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I often disagree with Deputy Wallace on various issues but I could not disagree with a syllable of what he said this evening. We have seen what happened in Greece, with penury being forced on people. There were two different scenarios where some people rose up and protested while others accepted austerity. At least Greece fought and gained concessions through fighting austerity and the powers that be, while others were forced into penury and public servants and others are not being paid as they should be. The same scenario exists here. Austerity is not working.

I have run a small business for the past 30 years and if I ran my business like that, I would not have lasted in business for five years. We cannot endure dose after dose of austerity and expect bright results. It might suit a certain type of person to say Ireland is doing great, that it is doing what it is being asked to do and dosing the people with austerity. I do not believe that. The Taoiseach is only person I know who believes that but I disagree with him fundamentally about growth.

The bank bailout was based entirely on lies. I voted for it and I have regretted it every day since. We were told we were staring into the abyss if we did not do this. That was outright lies. The former Minister, Brian Lenihan, God rest him, and his officials were told naked lies. It continued when they said the so-called pillar banks were to lend €3 billion each year. They did not give 300,000 but told more lies. The shenanigans that have gone on in the banks have been deplorable. People have been arraigned and charges brought against them but no one has been found guilty of anything yet, and after so many years, that is shocking. If I was to transfer funds from one account to another before they were due and the accountant signed off on them, it would be fraud regardless of whether it was €50, €500 or €1,000, never mind the billions of funny money that was moved in out.

This beggars belief. A greater power is involved here than democracy and I am concerned about it. There is a corrupt chain of money and events that means these people cannot fail. The last Government and this Government have piled misery after misery on the people to save these scoundrel banks.

We hear stories, and if we want to go down to the courts, we will see.

Any of us who are honest with ourselves, in our clinics and in our constituencies, meet constituents all the time, whether they be ordinary householders who are in debt with a mortgage, business persons or what we call speculators, with appalling stories of how loans were pushed at them and how they were forced into taking out loans. I accept they signed on the dotted line. A businessman was with me last weekend who is 50 years of age and has four children. He is now unemployed. Thankfully, all the staff he had are getting social welfare. He is not getting a penny. He went into his bank one day six or seven years ago to buy a house in a town in Tipperary. He was asked why he wanted to purchase one building and was advised to buy the whole block, and within four days he had borrowed €3.3 million. The man probably should not have got €300,000, but that is how reckless the banks were because there was commission and greed. The same occurred in Greece as occurred with ourselves. When our banks ran dry, the French and German banks shovelled funding in here by the load for speculation and they are being bailed out. They are laughing all the way to the bank. They are being bailed out at the expense of the ordinary taxpayers here and the ordinary people are being forced out of business.

God forbid one must deal with NAMA, the most dastardly unit that was ever set up. When it was set up I described it as a wild animal in the woods and stated that we had no idea where it would end up, and I have proved right.

We spoke earlier on a Topical Issue debate about the level of suicide. It is frightening the level of financially driven suicide in this country thanks to this banking crisis. In my county, there was a case quite recently. The blackguarding that decent businessmen of all persuasions - merely persons who wanted to work, create businesses, employ, invest and be somewhat speculative, but who certainly had good track records in business - are getting from NAMA, the courts and the system is nothing short of outrageous. I do not know how people are putting up with this in this so-called modern democracy of ours that was fought so hard for. They are being blackguarded and driven to suicide because of bullying, intimidation, threats and chicanery. They are making efforts to repay and the offers they come up with will not be accepted, yet the property can be sold three days later for a fraction of the price to those in an inner cycle. It is outrageous and scandalous. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd - I do not know who I will ask anymore because I have been asking for four years - that someone look at this. It is still going on. A merry dance is being danced and they are laughing all the way to the bank.

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