Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State. Although this is an extraordinary hour of the night at which to be addressing the Seanad, it has been dictated by extraordinary times. On behalf of Fianna Fáil, I thank all the Members of Fine Gael and the Labour Party for their co-operation in this regard, despite the many false starts last night and today. I also thank them for the spirit in which they made their suggestions by way of amendments in the other House and for the discussion that will take place here tonight.

These are extraordinary times and I welcome the introduction of the Bill to the House. In recent days Members have had the opportunity to have a debate on the economy, as well as on the Order of Business, which has allowed many of them to reiterate several points. Given the lateness of the hour, I do not intend to enter into repetitive rhetoric but wish to make a few points. First, the Irish State will go down in history for the action it has taken in recent days. In an unprecedented set of international circumstances, we have witnessed an unprecedented act of leadership by the State in taking this action which was necessary and decisive and, ultimately, will help to deal with the problem, which pertains to liquidity.

Although Senator Twomey and I are friends outside it, we often differ during debates in the House and I must do so in the context of his description of what he called toxic trios and toxic levels of debt. There is no substance to the suggestion that there is such a level of toxic debt in Ireland. No financial institutions engaged in the reckless, ninja-type lending that took place in the United States. While there will be bad debts——