Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The majority of people in this country work in the domestic economy, but sadly, the domestic economy has not been the priority of this Government. Its members have spoken about growth, GDP and the economy coming around, but it must be hard to tell that to people whose living standards are continuing to fall. It is not right to say that austerity has worked when the majority of people have suffered more and more with every passing year.

The lack of access to lending has been dramatic for most businesses in the domestic economy. It has been an absolute killer. The Government owns a large portion of the pillar banks - nearly all of AIB and 15% of Bank of Ireland - but it cannot instruct them what to do. They would be out of business if the Government had not rescued them. It was an inevitable collapse, but the Government saved them yet still cannot tell them what to do. It is hard to credit the idea that anybody could buy out a company and not be able to dictate what the company does.

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