Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

We must have a serious debate on the banking sector. A major sense of urgency was created last week that has metamorphosised into a degree of incompetence and insecurity about what we are supposed to be doing this week. People may want to fool themselves into thinking we are doing the right thing here but what we must watch are the markets. The Irish stock market crashed on the last two Monday mornings. That is creating a sense of uncertainty in the market. I ask the Leader of the House to face up to what we must do here. We must have a proper debate. I am not sure if the Leader is paying attention. He is probably sick talking about banking but there is a need to discuss this matter seriously. Investors in the Irish stock market have no confidence in this country. We have seen the stock market crash on the last two Mondays and we are still congratulating ourselves on what we did last week. Nothing was done here last week. I agree with Senator Alex White on that. I agree with Senator Fitzgerald that we must have continuous discussion on this issue and the Government must wake up to what is going on. It is a complicated issue. The scheme may not be introduced this week or even next week but we must have a continuing discussion as to what is going on with the Minister involved and let the general public know what is going on because uncertainty is being created and that will continue to hit the markets and confidence in the Irish banking sector if we do not do something about it. Those discussions should continue with or without the introduction of the scheme.