Fiona O'Malley (Progressive Democrats)

The fact the Leader of the Opposition had indicated there was a flight of capital and that the banks would be nationalised is not very good for the national interest abroad. People sitting at market desks in international finance offices will say the Leader of the Opposition thinks the banks are going to be nationalised, let us just sell. The Opposition has to think about the long-term interests of the country rather than just the political advantage that can be gleaned from a difficult situation like this. We need to see that wartime spirit of working together. I notice a different tone around the Dáil in particular this week. People in business are now getting on to politicians to say we should work together in dealing with this. It is time we came together and dealt with this situation.

I listened to the points made by Senator McCarthy. It is grand to whinge about what is going wrong and about what measures should be taken but it is never said what measure they will take and there is a responsibility to do so. It is not easy to be asking people to take cuts in their income but because it is in the national interest it must be done.

Because of this wartime spirit and because it is so expensive now for Ireland to borrow money in the markets, the Government should consider issuing patriot bonds because Irish people want to see their country survive and thrive. If it was made easy for people to buy these bonds I am sure older people in particular who might have a few pounds available would buy them if they were not crippled by inheritance tax. Asking Irish people to invest in their own country has worked before and it has worked in other countries and we need to consider measures such as this.