Geraldine Feeney (Fianna Fail)

I feel honoured and privileged to have an opportunity to contribute to a Bill the like of which we will not see again in our lifetime. I was in the House to hear the opening presentation by the Minister for Finance which was a very good speech. I have been listening to the speeches throughout the day in my office. Each has been very good in its own right. I was struck, however, by two sentences in Senator Harris' speech. He said that one must lead from the front and not hang behind. He complimented the Minister for Finance on doing that. Senator Harris said that NAMA is a political vehicle as much as an economic one. How true that is. It really is a political vehicle and it needs all parties and the nation behind it. NAMA is essential for the financial future of our country.

Since the draft legislation on NAMA was published last July, hours of media debate and much newspaper print have been devoted to it. I am not an economist but I do not think there was any better proposal. A consensus has emerged after the long and detailed debate that is the only show in town and the only way to go. It is important to have other proposals and we do respect them but NAMA was the right one to choose. Senator Bradford said that we seem to be stuck with it. We are not stuck with it; the general consensus is that it is the way to go.

The whole western world has been in unknown financial territory since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Our Government was brave and decisive in being ahead of the posse when it introduced the bank guarantee scheme. We know all about that because we sat and burnt the midnight oil until 8 a.m. We all know that a properly functioning banking system is systemically important for our economy. NAMA is the most practical and sensible solution to ensure we as a nation have a solvent and functioning banking system.

The greed of domestic and foreign bankers brought the economy into the abyss. The failure of our financial regulatory system abetted this crisis. We must learn the lessons of this terrible disaster. People of my generation have always trusted important institutions such as banks and the church. My late husband started at the age of 18 as a teller in the bank and worked his way up to managerial level. If he were to come back now he would not recognise what he considered to be the best educator he ever had. He would not recognise what Ireland has become as a result of this failure. He held the banks and bankers in high regard. The 18,000 bank officials are very good, upright, hardworking people. We spoke about them last week after the atrocity of the bank manager's kidnapping. They go about their daily business and work hard. They have been tarred with a the same brush as a few of the big guys at the top in management and on the boards who have let them, all of us and the entire country down.

The taxpayer rescued AIB 20 years ago. I prefer to say "rescued" than "bailed out". I do not like the term "bailed out" because it sounds like getting someone out of jail or doing him or her a good turn. A Fine Gael-led Government under Garret FitzGerald carried out that rescue. People have the highest respect for Dr. FitzGerald. He is in his 80s yet still has a bright, articulate economic mind. I heard him speak last week on "Morning Ireland". He is an amazing man. Nobody talked about a bailout back then. I am sure the action was referred to as a rescue. It had to be done in the same way we must rescue our financial institutions today.

We need a functioning bank system and we deserve and have a right to expect nothing less. We do not need the avarice and greed of the past decades. The banks are venerable institutions. Daniel O'Connell founded the National Bank which became a major part of the Bank of Ireland group. The man would turn in his grave if he were to see today what he started and where it is at. None of us ever thought we could reach that point. As the saying goes, "We are where we are and have to deal with it".

Anglo Irish Bank and its management are now a byword for greed and crookedness. The cost of rescuing the bank will burden me, my children and grandchildren for many decades. The other domestic banks are no better. They took on Anglo Irish Bank in the race to the bottom. The boards and senior management of these institutions should be pilloried. We also cannot let the Financial Regulator and the regulatory system off the hook. While the incumbent during all of this has resigned, the system must never again turn a blind eye in the way it did to what went on in the past decade. The debate which commits the country to borrowing billions of euro to rescue failure is vital. We must fix the problem and NAMA is the best solution. It is important, however, that we never forget. The sting in the tail in putting the final touches to NAMA will never leave any of us. All Members will remember and we will have long memories.

The Acting Chairman, Senator Bradford, speaking before me, was anxious, rightly so, about the banks not responding in a positive way to credit requests from small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, a concern all Members share. I was delighted when the Minister for Finance announced this morning that there would be an outside review mechanism for turned-down credit requests from SMEs by the banks. An outside body will not be behind closed doors and the public will have confidence in it.

I have been with my bank for 30 years and recently wanted to do a small job on my house. I am mortgage free and when I sought a loan, I had no problem in securing it. However, I could only get it as a commercial loan at 6.2%, as opposed to 3.2% for a home loan. Little matters such as this do not put the banks in the right light with the public.

Introducing legislation such as this must never happen again. The lesson we have learned is a valuable one and we all have long memories. Our children will have even longer ones. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Pat Carey, and thank him for taking his Monday off to come in and see us. It is not often we sit on a Monday but I am sure he did not appreciate having to come into the House today.

I wish the Bill well and look forward to contributing to it on its remaining Stages.