Shane Ross (Independent)

Like everybody else, I believe it is a wonderful day for the world. One can do no more than add one's congratulations to those which go unanimously from this House to President-elect Obama. It is important, however, to echo what has been said by other Members. Ireland probably did not rate highly on President-elect Obama's radar during the election. In fact, it is greatly to his advantage and somewhat unique that he does not appear to have been elected with any Irish baggage. That appears to be to our disadvantage as a nation. We do not have an enormous amount of leverage when it comes to his policy regarding Ireland. Indeed, he does not seem to have featured, particularly, in the traditional US mode of being helpful in the Northern Ireland context.

I was in Boston last week and what Senator Obama said was widely reported, namely, that America is exporting jobs to Ireland. That is what he said. We must quickly send the Taoiseach or the Minister for Finance to America to put President-elect Obama in the picture and to explain that if he prevents American companies from investing here, it will be devastating for the economy of a country that is already very fragile. I do not believe for one moment that he wishes us ill but it is vital that we get the message across to him that the consequences of what he intends to do — we cannot blame him for what he intends to do — could be very bad for us in a situation which is already very worrying. Perhaps we should have a debate on multinationals in Ireland. I heard the US Ambassador refer to the issue on the radio this morning and I heard the Minister for Foreign Affairs talking about it, as I am sure did everybody in this House. The issue is already taking off and we should have a debate in this House soon so the message gets across to America immediately, before Mr. Obama is inaugurated.

I note what Senators Fitzgerald, Buttimer and others said about AIB. It appears that AIB has suddenly discovered two things this morning, one of which is Ireland. It is extraordinary that suddenly it is saying the problem is here. For months it has been saying the problem is global but suddenly it has discovered Ireland. The bank has realised that it has all gone wrong here. Why did this happen? It happened because AIB had to go cap in hand to the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance a few weeks ago and it must now come clean. AIB has now come out with its hands up.

The other thing AIB has discovered is commercial and residential property, which did not feature on its radar until this morning. This is the problem. This time we should not, as we have done in the past, kowtow to the banks. It appears, however, that we will do so again with our nominations to the boards of the banks by giving them a panel of people from which to choose. It seems that the banks are more powerful than the Government. They are dictating the pace of the economy and are being tolerated. The Minister for Finance should come to this House and tell us that he will stand up to the banks and dictate to them, rather than take orders from them.