John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I echo the sentiments expressed my colleague Senator Donohoe on yesterday's announcements by the Minister for Finance on recapitalising the banks. I join Senator Buttimer who sought a specific debate in this regard. We all remember that two weeks before the guarantee was introduced, the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service had a meeting with the Financial Regulator and the Governor of the Central Bank who told us we had the best banks in Europe. That was two weeks before the Minister introduced the guarantee which was supported at the time by Fine Gael, as it secured the future of our entire banking sector. There needs to be a level of openness and honesty in this debate which has not been evident heretofore. Senator Boyle inferred that people who opposed the Government's position somehow did not know what they were on about, or were not being realistic or honest. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Minister's speech yesterday was distinctly lacking in an outline of alternative proposals the Government might have examined. The Minister came with his guarantee which received widespread support at the time. We were told it would achieve a certain objective for the banking sector, yet he has come back three or four times since. The figures are appalling. The Minister himself said they were horrifying and he is correct. The most significant thing we will ever do as Members of the Oireachtas is to discuss what the Minister put before the Dáil yesterday. We will have a debate on the matter later. I do not subscribe to the view, as espoused by Senator O'Toole, that the international markets are looking at Ireland and depending on the Government to pay for the misdemeanours of a private entity in the shape of Anglo Irish Bank, or that they see the Government as a bottomless pit to support the antics of Mr. FitzPatrick and his friends in development, politics and the Government, Fianna Fáil in particular. The international markets are mature enough to realise that Anglo Irish Bank is not of systemic importance to our banking structure and that it should be wound up in an orderly fashion. That is what the Opposition is proposing.