Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will stay within my time allocation, as is normal. The Comptroller and Auditor General has analysed the cost of the bank bailout in his annual report for 2018. The Taoiseach will recall, as will the House, that my party opposed to the bank bailout, which was supported by the Taoiseach's party, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin. The cost of the bank bailout, set out by the Comptroller and Auditor General, was €64 billion. This year, many years after the bailout, gross voted current and capital expenditure together, or everything we spend on vital infrastructure in hospitals and schools and on social protection, is €66 billion. The amount we gave to bail out the banks is almost equal to that. The figure of €66 million is the amount we voted in this House this year to run every Department of State and everything we will spend on buildings and infrastructure. It is truly a staggering sum of money. We will get a portion of it back through dividends and from the sale of bank shares. However, the Comptroller and Auditor General estimates that the net cost to the people of Ireland will still remain at €45 billion, with a recurring cost of between €1.1 billion and €1.3 billion every year to repay the interest on the money borrowed to bail out the banks. Bank of Ireland required a smaller bailout and has repaid the taxpayers' investment in it. The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General concludes, however, that none of the other banks will repay the money given by the people of Ireland. At the same time, the banks are profitable and there is pressure on the Government to remove the cap of €500,000 on bankers' pay. I hope and believe that the Taoiseach understands that most people would find any such suggestion repulsive.

The Comptroller and Auditor General's report suggests that we need to introduce new ways for the banks to repay the money the people put into them. In our budget proposals, which will be published tomorrow, we will suggest a modest increase of the bank levy to recover an additional €250 million. The levy is currently scheduled to end in 2021, which clearly cannot be tolerated. Does the Taoiseach agree that the banking sector owes a huge debt to the people and that we, as Members of the Irish Parliament, should demand that the banks continue to pay through levies until the debt and interest are fully paid back to the people?

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