John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Fitzgerald for sharing her time. I have some points to make that have not been mentioned. One relates to section 5. In my time in the Oireachtas, this is the most sweeping section I have seen in any legislation. It states that the Minister for Finance may make regulations to do anything that appears necessary or expedient to bring this Act into operation. I understand that when emergency legislation is drafted it may be necessary to have a catch-all section. Those, however, are unprecedented powers. I echo the sentiments of Senators Donohoe and Fitzgerald in hoping that the Minister will use those powers correctly.

Earlier in the debate, someone asked how this legislation sits with EU competition law. While I am not an expert on that subject, it is the single issue on which I have received a fair amount of correspondence in respect of the Bill in recent days. A number of people who have a detailed understanding of EU competition law have told me the Bill does not sit squarely with EU competition law. The Minister's response should explain how he perceives this matter. I echo Senator Alex White's simple question regarding what happened on Monday night, as the public is due an explanation as to how this series of events came about. I also agree with Senator Regan's observation that the Minister, who has taken some action, has received many plaudits. However, it appears to me that this constitutes the bankers' solution. While I support the Bill, it contains much that turns my stomach and to which I would be diametrically politically opposed in normal circumstances. However, I understand and accept that the circumstances are extraordinary.

The Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, made a sweeping statement, which I ask the Minister to interpret. In the middle of his speech, he stated, "We have all learned much from the current period of turmoil". What have we learned? Have we learned that the banks can do as they wish and ultimately, the Government will bail them out on any issue? What specifically has been learned from the current period of turmoil?

It appears there are two distinct strands to this crisis at present, namely, the global credit crunch and the bad lending practices that have occurred in Ireland in recent years. There is a danger in the midst of this crisis that we will turn a blind eye to those bad practices and that they will continue in future. This cannot be allowed to happen.