Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

I support the call for a debate on the banks. It appears we have been misled by the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance. We were promised that credit would flow and that there would be dividends from the banks as a result of the State's investment to keep the banking structures going. A rise in mortgage rates is now on the horizon. We see also that many businesses are going to the wall. To be frank about it, at this stage NAMA appears to be one of the biggest con acts of the century. People deserve to know exactly what is going on and who are the real benefactors of this restructuring of the banking sector because it does not appear to be the ordinary taxpayer. Banks have been running rings around the Government for the past while. They have been quiet for quite a while but they seem to be emerging again ready to put the boot into ordinary taxpayers when we see mortgage rates increasing. That will bring trouble to our economy but also to ordinary families. It is important that we regularly debate this issue and reflect our position with regard to banking and where it is leading our economy.