Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

The purpose of the legislation is to put the banks in a certain position and we do not want to do something now that will reverse that. We can, as Senator Alex White says, provide that certain sectors of the economy must receive a certain percentage. We do not have to reinvent the wheel to do that because there is a precedent for it in the initial deal with the banks on recapitalisation. The Minister is holding discussions with the banks. They know that the legislation exists to enable the Minister to introduce guidelines, which he has said he will do.

In response to Senator Bacik, what has been done in France is very interesting but I would guess that will not happen under these guidelines although it may. It is possible that under subsection (1)(b) something similar would be set up here. The Government has not gone through all the hassle, pressure and torture of coming up with the idea of NAMA, getting it off the ground and working out its exact details in order to arrive at a situation this time next year where credit is not flowing to the economy. If the guidelines and the legislation are not working, the Government will have to take action to deal with it. The Seanad can rest assured that it will.