Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

It really is embarrassing to be associated with this Government and even those of us in Opposition are tainted. For the avoidance of doubt, Fine Gael does not acquiesce in, endorse or approve of the economic policies of this Government nor of its policy on the banks. We have the proof of why we have adopted this type of position. Senator Mullen talks about ethics in government. It is a question of competence when we see that the Minister for Finance has not read the report on the state of the Irish banks which he commissioned from PricewaterhouseCoopers and in particular the report on Anglo Irish Bank, which he must have known at the time was the bank that was tainting the whole banking system and threatening to bring it down. Can one imagine past Ministers for Finance such as Alan Dukes, John Bruton or Deputy Ruairí Quinn not reading such a report? It is that incompetence which is the kernel of the issue. We know the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, is not an economist and he has no qualifications in the area of economics. We know he has no experience of or qualifications in commercial or banking life.