Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

While some of the actions taken served to prevent contagion from spreading from Ireland to the European banks which was in the interests of the wider European banking industry, it is obvious that the contagion was in Ireland. There is an Irish issue and there is an Irish responsibility also. I do not think the European authorities are going to exonerate us from all responsibility. The pretence that all of this was imposed on us from the outside is nonsense. People in Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society borrowed money at a very low cost on the interbank market and gave it out to builders and developers who took extraordinary risks because they were motivated by greed for their own enrichment. Unfortunately, as they are our fellow citizens, we end up with all taxpayers of the country sharing because of what they did. There is culpability attaching to certain people in Ireland. That is the pushback I will be seeking in the negotiations.

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