Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

The events of the initial bank recapitalisation underline the fact that the Government has lost the trust and confidence of the people and cannot be believed. The issue is not whether the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, was asleep or what the Government did prior to the weekend before the guarantee was given. It is why it indicated to the people and this House that the bank guarantee was the subject of an eleventh hour decision that had to be made when it had already met on the Sunday to discuss it.