Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for that, and I have no doubt about his commitment. This project for a public banking model is a no-brainer. What concerns me is that the dead hand of the bureaucrats at the Department of Finance will scuttle it. I know what they were like when we brought forward the Bankruptcy (Amendment) Bill. By hell, they resisted it. I am afraid they will resist anything new or novel or anything that represents something away from their cosy arrangements. They got their hands and fingers burned following the economic collapse and the crisis, when they took their eyes off of the ball together with the regulators. I am concerned that they are afraid or are reticent in this regard and that they will kill this before it gets out of the traps. I am keen to give the Minister 150% support. The Minister should shake them up in the way he always shakes people up. He should not be afraid to take on the mandarins, who will try to kill this before it gets out of the traps.

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