Larry Butler (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the quarterly report from Davy that shows we are out of recession and moving in the right direction. We also had international success during the week, following the provision of support for Bank of Ireland. The bank's placement issue was oversubscribed three times. I congratulate the Minister for Finance for doing a very fine job in restructuring the banking system. I agree with Senator Coghlan's comments on whether the Minister for Finance is looking at various ways of winding down Anglo Irish Bank, although I was not aware of that. My understanding is that if we do wind Anglo Irish Bank down quickly we will have to put in €70 billion up front. That is the problem, unless we burn our bondholders, which would not go down well internationally when we see the success that the Bank of Ireland has had on the markets. As regards yesterday's AIB report, even though it was quite glum and sad, there is €3 billion in future lending for small and medium businesses.