Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

Earlier on a Government party Senator referred to an experience in most banks in this country that was especially acute in Donegal. I have raised this issue before. Many people in Donegal held what were known as bogus non-resident accounts, in particular people in my own parish who cut turf for a living, sold the turf to the turf burning station and who, when the turf burning station closed, were made redundant. Many of these people were elderly and did not have much education having left school at primary level. They went to their bank manager, were given an address and told what to do with their money. Years later this turned out to be illegal; it was tax evasion. The Government came after those people not alone in respect of the money they had offshore but with serious financial penalties. The pressure resulted in some of them - we heard the stories at the time - taking their own lives. Others had to sell their homes and so on. The pressure by Government on those individuals who were directed by bank officials to do what they believed was right was unbelievable. Today, those people who cut turf in Donegal and other people who believed that what the banks were telling them to do was legal are bailing out those banks to the tune of €54 billion. It is absolutely evil that the Government is putting the country in this position.

My colleague, Deputy Arthur Morgan, called last week in the Dáil for an apology from the Taoiseach in regard to the untruths he is telling when he says time and again that nobody shouted about the warning signals. Sinn Féin shouted time and again about the warning signals, which is evident from the Official Report and in parliamentary questions. We told the Government that the property boom was overheating and that the bubble was going to burst. We are the only party, who in the 2007 election, only two years ago, said the Government should not reduce taxes because the bubble was going to burst and the country needed money. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party promised to reduce taxes and did not give a damn about the reality, namely, that the property bubble was about to burst and there was too much dependence on fair weather taxes. It was election time, however, and parties say whatever they want during election time. The reality is that this Government did know about the warning signs. Not alone did Sinn Féin identify the problem to the Government but so also did other economists.