Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

I agree with Senator Fitzgerald's call for the Leader to make a statement on the regulations which are to be made under the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Act 2008. The Leader and the other Members of the House did all we could to expedite the passage of the legislation in question last week. We all understood the urgency associated with it. We did what needed to be done. Time is of the essence. We urgently need closure on this issue.

It has clearly been pointed out that no guarantee scheme is in place. That was supposed to be the most significant aspect of the legislation. We gave the Minister and the Government a blank cheque. We took it in good faith. Nature abhors a vacuum, as we know. The markets are exploiting the vacuum that exists. With respect to Senator Butler, we do not have time to delay further. I share the Senator's concern for small business. Everything he says in that respect is correct. We won admiration last week for the bold and decisive manner in which we acted. It would be a frightful pity if we were to be tardy in following through on last week's actions and lose it all. Nothing has been done to remove any of the bad apples or ensure that proper practices are put in place.