John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister. I wish to make a couple of points and perhaps in his comments the Minister will outline to the House some of the pledges or items contained within the recapitalisation programme. I am in favour of bank recapitalisation. The lessons of history show that it must happen in this situation in an Irish context. However, there are serious shortcomings in what the Government proposes with the current scheme.

Will the Minister outline the moratorium on repossession of houses? How will it operate in practice in terms of people having difficulties meeting their mortgages? Once the 12-month period is up, will they be back to square one? Banks are to increase lending capacity for first-time buyers by 30%, yet the lending capacity for small and medium businesses is to be increased by only 10%. Most of those who have spoken about the need for recapitalisation have focused on the difficulties small and medium enterprises are experiencing obtaining cash to pay bills and keep staff employed. The balance seems to be a bit skewed.

There is to be a fig leaf for the Green Party in the order of €100 million for a green energy and innovation fund. There is also to be a €15 million seed capital fund, to be controlled by Enterprise Ireland. Perhaps the Minister will outline how this will work.

We are living in unprecedented times and there is a great sense of anger and outrage among the general public. We are near social unrest in Ireland - I never believed I would say that in the Chamber. If circumstances become much worse and we have many more days like the Government, especially the Minister for Finance, experienced yesterday, we will end up with social unrest.

There has been a betrayal of trust by the banks and the Government. There seems to be a golden circle at the top level of the management structure of the banking system. The recent revelation about the €7 billion floated in and out of Anglo Irish Bank really beggars belief. This Minister, although he represents Limerick city, is familiar with rural Ireland and will know that a farmer could not move two cows in County Limerick without the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food knowing what is going on, yet these boys can move €7 billion around as if it were confetti. Nobody knows about it and the Minister for Finance did not even read the bloody report. If it were not so serious, it would be comical. Will the Minister for Defence respond to this? I thank him and the Acting Chairman for their indulgence.