Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

The banks clearly have a moral, if not a legal, duty to pass yesterday's interest rate cut on to their hard-pressed customers, the country's taxpayers about whom I presume the other House, like this House, is concerned and whom we want to protect. We have given a commitment to introduce a scheme to assist such people but it is not yet in place. The Government has agreed to allow the EU to tweak the proposed scheme. As I said yesterday, the markets are playing hell with the vacuum that is arising from this delay. We are being negligent. I urge the Government to expedite this matter.

Senator O'Toole spoke about the Financial Regulator in this context. I accept that we should not be afraid to revisit this issue if additional powers need to be provided for. I suggest that regulating is a sine qua non of the regulator's role.