Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

I join others in welcoming the Minster for Finance, Deputy Lenihan, to the House and I thank the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Mansergh, for the comprehensive outline of the legislation. As always, I listened to Senator Twomey with interest. When considering these issues, I am amazed at the amount of hindsight claimed within the media, certain elements in the Opposition, although not all, and some of the public. Regrettably, governments do not have the benefit of operating with hindsight, they operate in a real-time environment. As the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, remarked, we have been living in a period of unprecedented turmoil in the international financial markets in the past 18 months. There is effectively a world war environment in international banking. Anyone who does not acknowledge the tsunami that is breaking over the entire global financial system is quite simply deluded in the extreme.

As the Minister of State outlined, circumstances have changed almost on an hourly basis in recent months. They have changed in banking circles, nationally and internationally. This has required a level of agility and an ability to improvise, which is unprecedented in modern history, to cope with the pace at which events have changed. The bank guarantee scheme was introduced and that was followed by the announcement of the results of Anglo Irish Bank. Those results were received poorly and that was reflected in the market reaction. Then there was an unprecedented situation in terms of breaches in the levels of probity. These would not be acceptable from any corporate entity and certainly not in an institution which we expected to be regulated to the highest level of probity. That has not been the case and it is a disgrace in terms of the actions of the former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank. Understandably, the international markets made a judgment on that and it has significantly affected the long-term liquidity of Anglo Irish Bank in the short term.

The only option was for the Government to step in and nationalise the bank. The Minister, Deputy Lenihan, stated some weeks ago his intention to make credit available in the amount of €1.5 billion of capitalisation. That was the last step before nationalisation. The news of loans to the directors superseded that and there was a need to nationalise the bank. I have heard suggestions from some quarters that the situation in Anglo Irish Bank was not systemic, as we might suggest on this side of the House, since it is not in the current account or car loan business. Anyone who believes that the position of that bank is not inextricably linked to the overall health of the banking system in Ireland is deluded. All the banks in this country have two-way relationships in short-term lending, foreign exchange and other areas. The future stability of Anglo Irish Bank is essential to the overall health of our banking system.

I welcome the Bill and I welcome the Minister's swift action in this regard. I question the benefit of 20:20 hindsight, claimed by some media interests. Throughout this crisis in the past 18 months I have consistently heard people say that we should have seen this and we should have seen that. No one saw this coming. No economist in the world saw it coming. There may have been certain parties who from time to time stated that they said this or that. All I have to say to those parties is that a stopped clock is correct twice a day. It is easy to say with the benefit of hindsight that one predicted this or that that would occur. However, I contend that no one predicted this situation. Last Friday the chairman of Anglo Irish Bank gave the up-to-date factual position regarding the solvency of the bank based on the PricewaterhouseCoopers report to which Senator Twomey referred. This was backed up and cross-checked by Jones Lang LaSalle valuers in terms of a net position of €4 billion. These are the facts. If Senator Twomey has information or a valuation that supersedes the expertise of these companies, we would like to hear it. Senator Twomey should bring us up to date.