Joe O'Toole (Independent)

It is very important we make it clear that this Bill is not to guarantee losses. It is only to guarantee those losses the banks cannot meet out of their other funds, etc. In an attempt to be helpful and recognising the county from which I come where Mr. Daniel O'Connell made a fortune out of changing names, one cannot disagree with the intent of this. We said we should do this on the basis of not trusting bankers. My only difficulty with this is that it trusts bankers. What they would do is just call it something else.

The solution to this lies in the Minister's Department. For my sins, I chair a remuneration committee and I am a member of two other such committees. I deal with the Minister's Department in that regard. I would be very happy if the same scrutiny were put in place through a remuneration committee established by the Minister's Department. The Department already has one which includes the Secretaries General of the Departments of the Taoiseach and Finance. It must go through a parent Department and must have a clear set of objectives for the year, a twice yearly review of progress, an assessment and key performance indicators. On that basis, a package is agreed.

No one can walk away from what the Labour Party is trying to do. There is an intent here to which no one can object and it is about scrutiny. If the Minister said it was his intention that the remuneration package would receive the same scrutiny as the remuneration package for the chief executive of a State body or semi-State body, that would cover exactly what we are setting out to do. It would have to be approved by his Department. If we heard his Department was beginning to approve the type of bonuses to which Senator Kelly objected — we all agree with him on that — this would fall on its face.

Is the Minister prepared to insist that the same level of scrutiny, assessment, monitoring and measurement of performance indicators is put in place for the chief executives of these institutions as it is for other bodies with which he deals?