Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

Let us leave Professor Stiglitz out of this debate as well. He accused us of being criminals. Perhaps I was a little unfair on Senator Cannon and, earlier, on Senator Doherty when he said it was a criminal act to introduce NAMA, because it was Professor Stiglitz who started that particular line of debate here. It is an ill-founded line of debate.

Having got rid of Japan, France, Professor Stiglitz, legalised theft and criminal plunder, let us deal with why the Government is introducing the National Asset Management Agency. As Senator Healy Eames so rightly said in her conclusion, we have very serious problems in this country. We have an increase in joblessness, but it was good to see the jobless figures stabilise in October.