Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister. We know very little about why we are taking this action with regard to Anglo Irish Bank. The Minister told us why it is being nationalised. However, if we consider some of the facts the Minister has been given over the past 24 hours, and some of the facts in the accounts of Anglo Irish Bank, the bank has in excess of €100 billion on its balance sheet and €70 billion in loans, mostly good loans, although some are distressed — these are the Minister's own words. We all know there is such a thing as roll-over interest and that some advances have been made, although we cannot be sure of this.

The quality of those loans is not as rosy as the Minister suggests. If one examines Anglo Irish Bank's accounts, the bank is trying to suggest the level of distressed loans to those under pressure is only something like 1.5% and that there is a question mark over something like 6% or 7% of loans. Other international observers would put that figure much higher. If the Government is asking the taxpayer to pay for all of this, there is a need for more information on what PricewaterhouseCoopers has actually discovered.

There is approximately €7 billion in shareholders' funds and other capital is available. There are also Anglo Irish Bank's profits, which seem to have been quite significant in the past couple of years. All of this does not sound so bad. There might be a need for the Minister to expand further as to his reasons for doing this and to explain exactly where he sees the threats to Anglo Irish Bank. He should tell us more and stop hiding behind the confidentiality issue that has been thrown around to date.

In the past couple of months, the situation has changed dramatically. There is a sense that nobody believes what is happening. There is a sense there is a hapless trio of the Government, the regulator and the banks, with all giving conflicting stories. In the House on 1 October, when I raised the point that the Government should limit the exposure of taxpayers to €10 billion of taxpayers' money in rescuing the banks, the Minister said he did not envisage that sort of money being spent. Barely four months later, €10 billion is the minium that will be spent on the banks according to the Minister's public statements in recent weeks.