John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Leader for so speedily arranging the debate on the banking situation for today. It is interesting to note from the Opposition this morning that there was knowledge in the Lower House during the previous term of Government of the difficulties in the banking sector. There was awareness of how difficult the situation was and of the property bubble that would create difficulties. That being the case, why did the Fine Gael manifesto in 2007 propose a complete abolition of stamp duty? That demonstrates the hypocrisy of pointing the finger at us in a self-righteous manner when Fine Gael was going to throw petrol on the flames with its proposal to abolish stamp duty on property completely.

I support the call made for the banning of methadrone and suggest we have a debate on the issue. Perhaps we could focus on the need for each drug to be approved before it can be sold. We are aware that by the simple change of a compound, the methadrone could reappear in head shops and be legally sold. I suggest that before a drug could be sold, it should be approved, thereby putting headshops out of business.