Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I listened to the ministerial speeches and, once again, I wonder at what constituency they are aimed. Someone affected by the recession in Ireland would be left utterly and totally cold. There is little comfort in them, although there are many boasts on a macroeconomic scale. The Taoiseach's speech, like so many by him and the Tánaiste, was directed, once again, at large vested interests overseas. It is directed at the global markets and people in power in Europe and elsewhere overseas in order that they will recognise, as they do, the job of work the Taoiseach and his Ministers have done. Everybody in this House knows that the applause we are receiving internationally for what has happened to the economy is raucous, loud and frequent. The Government has taken in that applause and is now playing to that audience more than the home audience. Those affected by the measures taken are not as impressed as those overseas who seem to be dictating the pace of the economy and the agenda in this country.

One need only look at what happened today in the Irish stock market to realise who is benefiting from what has happened. The results Bank of Ireland produced yesterday are full of boasts that the bank will be in profit this year. It will be. The results are full of boasts that it is moving back into solvency. However, one of the most significant developments today is as a result of the fact that Bank of Ireland shares have trebled in value recently - they have increased in value by 25% this year. One of the largest investors, Mr. Wilbur Ross - an unfortunate name, but I have to live with it, as others do – is taking out a whole whack of Bank of Ireland shares because he has profited so much. The value of the shares has trebled during the period he has been an investor. Those large investors who took advantage of our collapse have done extraordinarily well. Mr. Ross has made several hundred million euro. His comrade, Mr. Prem Watsa from Fairfax, told Reuters in an interview that over the three year period “Bank of Ireland has been one of our most successful investments.” He has also taken hundreds of millions of euro out of the economy.

The banks have done really well. They have got their way and those who invested in them and took advantage of their collapse have done very well. However, they have done so on the backs of the people. It is not a happy day to be celebrating the so-called economic success of the Government considering that we heard Mr. Richie Boucher praise the Government yesterday on economic recovery. Today the Government is singing from exactly the same hymn sheet. The Cabinet should not be working for the banks. The symptom of its doing so was the enormous profit those who had supported and bought the shares at rock-bottom prices had gained from the banks. They have been taken from a potential gain for the people.

I would like to hear the Minister for Finance on this issue and, unfortunately, he will not be present today. I would like to hear him speak to us in view of the fact that Bank of Ireland shares have increased in value by so much and I would like to hear what he would do about recapitalisation. In the speeches of the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste – I do not believe I have seen the Tánaiste's script – there is in the midst of the great euphoria they are forecasting for this year and the Utopia ahead no mention of the big obstacle, namely, the stress tests. I do not know what will happen in them; nobody else does either. The last stress tests were rather soft and benign, but the tests this year are certainly a sword of Damocles hanging over the banks. This may well require that the two pillar banks, Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland, on which Government strategy is pivotally poised, be recapitalised. That would send the economy and the Government into circumstances they are refusing even to contemplate.

Does the Minister for Finance recognise recapitalisation as a possibility? If so, from where will the money come? The only suggestion we have had in recent times is that the money will be obtained from private sources. We know the Government cannot get the money from the taxpayer. As it is unlikely to get it from overseas, it states it might get it from private sources. It is most unlikely that private sources would invest in Bank of Ireland or Allied Irish Banks at this stage, partly because the share values have already trebled in a short period. Bank of Ireland, in particular, is massively expensive in market terms compared with its peers overseas. That is because people have bought and are still buying into the Irish story and believe it is the only way of buying into a vehicle which is the Irish story. However, if circumstances start to unwind, requiring bank recapitalisation, the whole economy will, once again, be faced with a very difficult situation. The Government has not faced up to this at all. Although Wilbur Ross has trebled his money and Fairfax has pronounced that it made a wonderful investment, the people are not feeling it for one moment.

I would like to hear whether the Government is contemplating a sale of its own shares in the two banks in which it has put so much store. I refer to a policy the Minister for Finance recognised this morning or yesterday as being in doubt in that he recognised the need for a possible third force in banking. Pillar banks of the sort in question have a capacity for crucifying the people and creating a new cartel.

Let me address the issue of political reform. The Government has failed abysmally in this regard. There is a little window-dressing in terms of directorships, semi-State organisations and the cutting off of one or two quangos here, there and everywhere. Only ten days ago I introduced a Bill in this House to challenge the Government on political reform. The aim of the Bill was to take judicial appointments out of the public arena, certainly out of Government control. The Government and Fianna Fáil – I was delighted to accept the support of Sinn Féin – decided that patronage was to continue. They could not face the possibility of power of patronage leaving their hands and, therefore, voted down the Bill. Let us wait and see: a judicial appointments board will be introduced, but it will be muted at birth.

The obvious solution to the crisis that we noticed in the Garda Síochána recently and the awful lack of confidence in the force involved in some way taking the 200 top appointments in the Garda out of the political arena. It is welcome that the Labour Party, or certain members thereof, has championed and taken on board this cause recently, including during the consideration of my Bill.

If the Government is serious about its commitment to restoring confidence in the Garda and about reform of the institutions of the State, which I believe it is not, it should now concede the point that we can no longer afford to have a force for law and order which is not supported by the people because of the recent shenanigans, many of which lie at the Government's door. The Government should accept a proposal or a Bill to ensure that the appointment of the Garda Commissioner and the 199 subordinates he has at present is taken out of the political arena and given to an independent commission.

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