John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

In light of the facts that we have this morning of the very disturbing figures, albeit that they are horrendous they are manageable, it is not necessarily a time just to say that is then and this is now. We do have to look again and see what actually happened. It is my contention that not only was there reckless lending but there was knowingly reckless lending. That is something we must ensure never happens again. If it was the case that bonuses were paid not on the quality of the loans but on the volume of the loans we must ensure that it cannot and does not proceed into the future. This is a serious matter and it could happen again. It is not the case that there is €29 billion of non-performing loans; €29 billion has just been written off which means that non-performing loans are much higher than that. It is again my contention that there was deliberate and knowingly reckless lending. If that was the case we must ensure it never happens again. People should be held accountable.

I seek cross-party support for a debate on transport. I notice when driving that people are still using mobile telephones as they drive. When people go to drive-through restaurants they do not all bring their meals home — they eat them as they drive. One can now play movies in cars which must be a distraction. In time I have no doubt there will be a supermarket offer for a mini deep-fat fryer that one can plug into the cigarette lighter to have one's chips on the go. If human nature is not going to change we have the capacity to put into cars technology that will prevent collisions. As human nature will not change is it not time that we in this country gave a lead and put in technology that will prevent collisions automatically if a car is within a certain distance of an object that it could hit?