Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

——both politically and economically. The reason people are suspicious includes the following: the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, did not show real muscle in dealing with the banks. He did not clear out the boards in line with good international practice; he did not adequately protect home owners; and he did not use his leverage to unburden hard-pressed couples with fixed rate mortgages when he had total bargaining power with the banks. This smells rotten and it is time for the Government to come clean, just as has been said.

I want to ask the Leader where is the former Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, in all of this. The chances are that he has a great deal of information he could share with us. I call on him today to also come clean and give information for the sake of the country's political and economic stability. It is really a case of Rome burning while Nero fiddles, and the farmer is now burnt.

Poor management by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in relation to the farm waste management scheme leaves some farmers in dire straits. Some 1,400 farmers in Galway have not been paid for the farm waste management scheme and I am now getting calls to the effect that some are having difficulty paying for their groceries.