Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

It is five years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers but in that time there has been no reform of the banking system nor any discussion or debate in Europe about the current banking system. Cyprus joined the European Union in 2008 and its loan books grew by 32% in one year. Its banks attracted depositors because of the high interest rates. Money in Cypriot banks earned twice as much as in Italy or Spain and four times as much as in Germany. The Cypriot banks were eight times the size of the Cypriot economy, employing 150,000 bank workers out of a population of 700,000. Losses on the Greek sovereign bonds equalled one third of the Cypriot GDP.

In former times, wearing his other cap, the Tánaiste would have questioned this domination by rogue banking systems of the world economy, nation states and people's lives. The Russian mafia has been referred to by Deputy Higgins. A banking Mafia is dictating the lives of ordinary people and causing penury in many areas of the world. These banks are engaged in casino capitalism. I ask why the Tánaiste, who is a Labour Party Minister, does not enter this key debate on how society should be run.

Two European economies have been destroyed, Greece and Cyprus and Ireland, Portugal and Spain are in deep recession. We need to move away from this casino banking mafia-run international system. The Tánaiste would have made the argument in the past that we need a banking system in which people can have confidence, that they can be assured that their money will not be put on the next horse in the 4.30. We need a system that serves the interest of the people, of small business and the economy in general. This should be a State-owned, democratic banking system. As Deputy Higgins said, this must be part of the debate when deciding how to move our economy forward.

The people of Cyprus are so bloody angry about what has happened. They are in tears. They are like the people who come to my office and to the Tánaiste's office with tears in their eyes because they cannot deal with the levels of debt, stress and pain. The Irish Government could play a key role in that debate. The Tánaiste is supposed to be a representative of the working man and woman and he should be speaking about their situation at the EU summit.

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