Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

Sadly, as we have been hearing, there is no end to the revelations regarding badly behaving bankers. Yesterday evening we had another resignation of a chairman of one of the six covered institutions. Another has stoutly refused to resign and Members on all sides of the House agree there are several whose positions seem to be untenable. Sadly, the Government, which should have moral authority, apart from the legal back-up, appears to be helpless to stop this drip feed. We all believe it would be better in the national interest if it all came out now to get it over with, which would give us some hope of moving on.

I ask the Leader to outline the proposals regarding restructuring. We know about the bank guarantee, which we believe will have to be extended beyond 2010. We know about the recapitalisation. We are awaiting the legislation but what about the restructuring we were promised, particularly regarding Anglo Irish Bank, Irish Nationwide Building Society and Irish Life & Permanent now that we know of so much wrongdoing which has drip fed into the public domain?

I call for an apology to the public from the bankers. AIB has gone some way towards that with its advertisement recognising the commitment of taxpayers towards the recapitalisation and promising to work harder. That is a good first step but I would like the bankers to apologise, as they did in Britain to the Treasury Committee when they were grilled by MPs. They apologised for their part in the financial crisis that is affecting us all.

The regulatory authorities have failed to act decisively. It is as though they are happy for them to be dealt with piecemeal and for people to disappear so that we can forget about them but if they need new powers, which they have not said, they should tell us now and let us get on with it.