Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have misquoted nobody this evening. The leak of information which caused this emergency session should be investigated. It means we are proceeding with one part of a deal before the whole deal is agreed. It is hoped that this will not cause further problems on top of the reported annoyance at political posturing by Ministers. In the limited time we have had available to be briefed or to seek advice, it appears that this legislation is a legitimate part in a process of lessening the impact of banking debt on the public finances. However, there are number of important questions we would like the Government to answer.

We have been told that this is not last-minute legislation and it has been worked on for some time. Therefore, the Government should be in a position to answer questions in some detail and extend the Minister's reply beyond the ridiculous five minutes allocated. We have indicated that Fianna Fáil's intention is to support this legislation and we accept the Minister's statement this evening, given the risk to the €14 billion in assets. As Deputy Michael McGrath noted, in principle and apart from an prospective deal, we have no objection to the winding up of the IBRC and its absorption into NAMA. Nevertheless, I welcome the conversion to NAMA by the Taoiseach and others as I remind them that when the body was established, he used some very colourful language to describe it. He indicated it was a €90 billion "double or quits" gamble with taxpayers' money. The Fine Gael Party leader at the time confirmed that his party would vote against NAMA, which he called "a sweetheart deal" for the banks. Admittedly, the Taoiseach has come a long way since making those statements as Leader of the Opposition but his comments may be somewhat similar to what he would now accuse members of other elements of the Opposition now.

The IBRC was always intended to be a temporary entity and its creation prevented the need to immediately resolve all issues with Anglo Irish Bank. Crucially, it prevented an immediate and unknown crisis of much greater magnitude. The Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Honohan, described the bank as "systemic". It has the form of a bank but in substance it has gone about the business of trying to recoup as much money as possible. Its liquidation in this manner should not have a significant impact but it will facilitate technical changes to the Central Bank's balance sheet required to refinance the promissory notes.

The IBRC currently has well over 850 employees focused on recouping debts. They are managing court cases against a wide range of people, including those who are brazenly trying to avoid full responsibility for their own debts. We would like the Government to explain what will happen to IBRC's employees. The Minister indicated that de facto they will lose their jobs tomorrow morning, and this was repeated by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste. I respectfully suggest to the Taoiseach and Ministers that much more needs to be done to support the workers concerned with regard to employment contracts and issues.

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