John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

I look forward to the debate we will have on the banking situation in the next few weeks. However, I am cognisant that we should have facts presented before the House. To suggest that interest rates are at unsustainable levels is nothing short of nonsense. In the 1980s we had a debt-GDP ratio of 130%, 18% unemployment and 18% inflation, and we got through that. I hear radio commentators talking about an extra 0.2% on our interest rates when we paid a multiple of that in the 1980s and we got through it. In fact, we were paying 33% of all taxation income on debt repayment in the 1980s when it is currently 18.7% - that is the difference.

It is finally time to put this issue to rest. Things are not as bad as the Opposition would want the people to believe. The reality is there is an awful lot of talking down of the economy.