Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the news about the group the Minister of State chairs. Ultimately, the Government needs to consider the establishment of a State bank, which was not far away from Fianna Fáil, or indeed Fine Gael, policy in the past. Both the Minister and the Minister of State need to unite around the Cabinet table and look at the establishment of a State financial services provider, be that in banking, which we will go into another day and I had the opportunity to do so some weeks ago, or insurance. If there is one way of regulating and ensuring fair conditions in a market, it is to be the State provider of competition in that market for a period. We have done it before with ACC and ICC. The model worked and it can work again. It has never been more necessary than it is today.

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