Larry Butler (Fianna Fail)

It is important to debate issues like the IMF report and the economy in general. The IMF has focused our minds on what we have to do in the next budget. It has made it clear that the Government is doing the right thing and has the right policies. The IMF has said that NAMA is the right vehicle for doing the job that is needed in the banking and finance sectors. It is important that a body like the IMF has said the Government is doing the right thing and pursuing the right policy. We have taken some support from the important announcement made by the IMF, which is not an international body that takes sides one way or the other. I like the fact the IMF's reports are down the middle. We will continue to implement the policy that is in place. I suggest that we should park the IMF report for a minute, however, to contemplate where we should go from here.

I wish to comment briefly on the important policy we are pursuing in respect of the banking sector. We have taken the right decisions to put the economy on a proper footing. I will refer separately to the guarantee policies, the recapitalisation of the banks and the cuts in the public sector. As I said on the Order of Business, the Davy report that was published this week revealed that 85% of our bonds that were put on the international market have been sold. The international markets have made an important statement. People in this House who have banking experience etc., have criticised the Government's policies over recent years. I am no longer prepared to take that.

Fine Gael proposed to establish an illusionary bank for €2 billion and to borrow €40 billion to recapitalise it, until it learned that the European Central Bank would not fund such a proposal. The IMF report did not give any credence to that proposal. It gave little credence to the option of nationalising the banks, which should only be considered down the road, according to the IMF. As a result, Fine Gael's banking proposals are totally off-side. It no longer has a banking policy. The only country that sold a bigger percentage of its bonds is Greece, which sold 87%. We sold 85% of our bonds. The money accruing from these policy bonds has been borrowed, in effect, for between five and ten years. That is where the real rating comes in, even if Standard & Poor's, Moodys and other rating agencies have downgraded this country's rating. When one puts one's bond on the market in the international marketplace, people decide whether to support it as a good bet on the basis of whether they think what one is doing is right for the economy. That is the important thing.

I hope the previous speaker, who has left the Chamber, is watching on her monitor because I intend to set out how we should deal with the economy over the next three years. She said Fianna Fáil will be out of power soon, but I suggest she should not hold her breath.