Joe O'Toole (Independent)

There are serious issues to be dealt with and they will be dealt with by the Committee of Public Accounts. This is the level at which such matters should be dealt with.

The issue of recapitalisation of the banks has arisen once again as individual private equity firms seek to invest in the banks. I again urge that the Government approach this cautiously. The Government, however it has managed to do so, has got it right to date in the sense that it did not recapitalise the banks a couple of weeks ago as did the US and UK. What happened is that the money they provided simply went into a hole in the ground as banks simply used it to build up their own capitalisation and Tier 1 requirements. We now find that while at least one Irish bank, Irish Life and Permanent, exceeds the Tier 1 asset capitalisation being sought by European banks, this appears to be making no difference.

When the Minister for Finance comes into the House I would like him to tell us how will we get the money from Government into small business and enterprises around the country. What we are missing is ICC and ACC, which in times past would have made this kind of money available, which is an important point. Another issue that arises is sub-prime lending which has a bad name as a result of what happened in the US. It is important to remember that we have a thriving and positive sub-prime lending institution in the form of the credit unions. Credit unions are involved in sub-prime lending to people who often cannot get funds from the main institutions and they do so in a regulated and protective manner. It is a process through which money can flow to ordinary people in a positive way. It is not sub-prime lending that is wrong. Credit unions maintain their loans right the way through and do not sell them off again. The Government should consider possible other ways of getting money into the business sector and to people who need credit other than simply handing the matter to the large banks.