Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

We agree with the Order of Business as proposed by the Leader and to the taking of these important matters in the course of the day.

Perhaps the Leader might find out from the Taoiseach why, on a recent visit to Colombia, he chose to meet the President of that country specifically to deal with one issue, namely, the three people convicted of travelling on false passports. I would have thought it quite unusual, where someone has been convicted of a rather serious charge in that he has conveniently decided to travel on an illegal and false passport, clearly having shown no fidelity to this State, that the Taoiseach should take up the matter as President of the European Union with the President of Colombia. That is quite strange.

I agree with the comments of Deputy Fiona O'Malley of the Progressive Democrats at the weekend concerning the matter. It is clearly serious if people choose to travel on illegal passports and show no sense of loyalty to their own country in so doing. Given the background of those people, with their connections with the IRA, it is most strange and absurd that the Taoiseach should choose to meet the President of Colombia on the issue. I would appreciate some clarity on this point in the course of the Taoiseach's comments in coming days.

We have all been struck by the recent revelations in the Irish banking sector. I am aware of comments made in this and the other House over the last few weeks on the matter. I make this point strongly. The greatest power rests in the hands of the Irish people if they wish to show their disgust at recent scandals in one bank. The power they have is to move their accounts. Consumers in this country have power when they show institutions and big, multinational companies that they are totally opposed to their actions. We saw that some years ago regarding Shell. Many institutions in this country have not been fleecing people, the Irish credit union movement being one very good example. If people are really disgusted at what they see in the Irish banking sector, they should move their accounts to other banks. We need more competition, and banks will cop on to the kind of illegal activity in which they have been engaged and the lack of moral guidance they have shown the country if they lose accounts.