Paschal Donohoe (Fine Gael)

Earlier in the week in the United States, the director of the FBI appeared before the House banking committee and gave testimony to the effect that his organisation would investigate the misselling of financial services and products. Why can we not take the same approach given that we are talking about financial activities which have placed our economic interests at grave risk?

I wish to respond to some of the points colleagues on the Government side of the House made about the banks. They rightly talked about treachery, treason and so on. There was an opportunity in the agreement with the banks to take action. I encourage any Member who has not read the agreement to do so and to ask why it took so long to produce it. It is available in at least one newspaper this morning. If we are talking about treachery and the damage done to our economic interests, why were issues of competence and ethics, which are at the heart of what we are dealing with, not dealt with last night? We deserve an answer to that question.

I support Senator Rónán Mullen's call to begin an early and open discussion on the Lisbon referendum. Many sensitive and important discussions are taking place in the dark which should be brought out into the open so that we can ensure we are anchored in the heart of Europe.

Senator Ivor Callely made an appropriate point on hope for the future. I have no doubt we can get through all of this. The mistake we made during the boom was that we believed it would never end. The mistake we must not make during the so-called bust is to forget that it also will end. However, the secret to doing that will be to ensure the kind of questions my colleagues and I raised this morning are answered.