Larry Butler (Fianna Fail)

I will not go down the road taken by other speakers on this issue. We know what the people have said in the election. We must adjudicate on what people have said to us and decide how we will react and structure the direction of Government for the next three years. Senator O'Toole has touched briefly on one of the key issues for the running of the country for the next three years, the banking situation. We know the Fine Gael plan. What sort of message would that plan to let international bonds and pensions and so forth burn, send out internationally when we go back onto the bond market looking for investors? We would not get anyone to invest in this country if that happened.

When I was on the doorsteps people talked about how they swallowed hook, line and sinker the idea that the banks were a gilt-edged bet. Now that they realise they were not gilt-edged they blame the Government, saying it was our job to ensure the Financial Regulator worked. They are right. We are not blameless. We should have been more on top of our job. The other problem was that we did not expect what happened. The crisis in the property market came first, followed by the banking crisis and then the international crisis. We have three problems and we have not yet solved the banking crisis. That will take some time.

I could not understand how a man of Deputy Richard Bruton's intelligence could say that €40 billion to €50 billion of his proposals should be allowed to welch on that bet. We need a banking system that enables people to invest in the country. Inward investment is one of the key factors on which we depend for job creation and for our financial services which are major employers. We do not have a choice about bailing out the banks. It would be great if we did have a choice in the matter and did not have to bail them out. Without a banking system we would not have an economy. We would lose a workforce of approximately 37,000 to 40,000 if we ran down the banking system. We are helping the banks out because we have to. The banking service is a people service involving investors, small deposit holders and people who invested in bank shares. Funnily enough bank shares have risen somewhat, although they have a long way to go. The paper value of the Government investment in the two main banks is over €5 billion. Nobody has mentioned that it has been a very good investment. It is not a question of helping out the bankers or our friends but an investment. I explained that to people on the doorsteps.

I also explained to the garda, the nurse, the teacher who said that we were taking X,Y or Z out of their pockets that €20 billion of that amount is being borrowed and we have to take corrective action to bridge the gap between what we spend and taxation. That has to be done. There will be pain for the next three years. That is the message we will send out. We are not sending the right message. It must be clearer and we must say exactly why we are doing A, B and C. We must be honest with the people. Senator Boyle got it in one when he said we must be honest with the people and tell them exactly why we have to do this and explain that we have agreed a five year strategy with our international support in Europe which respects the fact that we must make that commitment.

I thank the Minister of State for his explanation. His thoughts on the situation and where he is going from here are very good. We have the right man in the right job to deal with the housing situation. I thank him for all the hard work he has done since taking office.