Fiona O'Malley (Independent)

I listened to the Taoiseach talk about this matter this morning. The international financial system is so precarious; it is all built on confidence. Let us consider the overnight decision taken 18 months ago to guarantee deposits. Had we not done that, the banks would have gone down. It is easy, with the benefit of hindsight, to say Anglo Irish Bank is not of systemic importance. Once one bank went over the cliff, the others would not have been far behind. They were all tied together. We can all be wise after the event and theorise about what may or may not have happened. However, the one thing that is for sure is that the Government had no option but to do what it did.

The Labour Party takes pride in the fact that it voted against the Government's decision. I genuinely believe a failure to act would have led to the collapse of the economy, which is not something we can countenance. Similarly, the Government had to make the decision it made yesterday. One could hear in the voice of the Minister for Finance his disgust at what needed to be done, but it does need to be done. The best thing we can do is to remember that this is our country; it belongs to all of us. The Government members may be the ones who are making the decisions now, but the time will come when the Opposition will be in charge and its members will need to think about what they have said and done. It is time we adopted a responsible attitude to the future of the country. We are where we are and must pull together, rise above politics and bear in mind the generations to come in making the repayment of these loans as easy and swift as possible.