Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

The report was acted upon.

Amendments are proposed in two areas of the Bill. I am not giving a hostage to fortune but this is the Oireachtas where legislation is decided upon and everybody's opinion is valued here. This is where legislation can be refined and examined in greater detail and the Government will be willing to listen to arguments that stand up to scrutiny and which would improve the legislation. I refer to those proposed amendments with regard to the issue of the Irish registered non-resident companies and the amendment of section 40 in Part 2 of the 1990 Act.

The country is in very challenging times with regard to the economy. There are difficulties to deal with such as rising unemployment and a drop in exports and we are under severe pressure. However, we must address the issue of banking. The banks are under huge pressure and this is not because of any internal context but rather as a result of the broader international global credit crisis which has afflicted all modernised economies. It is critical to have structurally sound banks which can access credit on the wholesale money markets and provide it to first-time buyers and small and medium-sized businesses.

It is important we do not put out these bland statements on the purpose of the Government's support of the banks through the bank guarantee, which was of critical importance to the State and the functioning of the economy on 29 September 2008. If we had not brought that forward at that time, we could have been in a very precarious position because a collapse of any one of the major financial institutions that are of systemic importance would have had a knock-on effect on the broader economy. That was of great importance. Some people and parties have views on that but it was genuinely brought forward with one aim, to support and avoid a systemic collapse of the banking system in this country. At the time it was acknowledged internationally by everybody that it was a brave and courageous decision and, more important, it was the right decision.

We then went further in having broader due diligence of the banks. There was the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank for the reasons pointed out at the time by the Minister for Finance because of issues that arose in the context of undermining confidence due to certain activities. That is why that bank was nationalised. We then had the whole area of the capitalisation of the banks.