Dan Boyle (Green Party)

——but about the asset management agency. However reluctantly they are prepared to admit it, the Opposition parties are now moving away from the budget. There is a grudging acceptance that the measures taken needed to be taken. The two options being offered by the main Opposition parties are the Fine Gael approach that we should have greater cuts in public expenditure which means less spending in the economy in general or the Labour Party approach that we should borrow more and invest to get out of our political difficulties. Both approaches are fundamentally wrong because they miss the first element. We cannot borrow more unless we are seen to get our public finances in order.

The first element in any economic recovery programme is the type of exercise we have engaged in this week. The asset management agency is an integral part of this programme. Outside of coming up with a credible alternative, the option of doing nothing is far worse for the economy. That the banks are in the current situation, despite the interventions made by the Government, has resulted in an economy in sclerosis. If we leave the assets where they are and allow the banks trade as they are currently, there will be no impetus to the economy or targeted or additional lending. The issue of how to deal with the toxic loan book is vital to the economy. To take it aside and give it to the most effective State agency, the National Treasury Management Agency, offers the best hope for dealing with this seemingly intractable problem.

The real questions which the Opposition parties need to ask themselves is what is their alternative to a national asset management agency and why they lack confidence in the National Treasury Management Agency which will be responsible for ensuring that it is successful. The NTMA helped manage our national debt from a situation where it was 130% of national income to a situation where it fell below 25%, one of the lowest in the OECD area. Given that experience, it is now time to entrust that responsibility to an agency to deal with the main source of our current economic difficulties. I have that confidence, as do my party and the Government. The Opposition, by failing to show any alternative in this area——