Paschal Donohoe (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister and thank him for his contribution. Given the reference he made to the ECB-IMF support plan for our country, I invite him to make one comment later in the day. A growing number of people are saying that our country was bullied into accepting some form of a deal. I hear it increasingly from young people, who I am looking to represent. Parties on this side of the House would argue that if we formed a new government, we would have the right to go back to the authorities and look to renegotiate elements of it. The Minister may agree or disagree with us on this point.

One point on which we must be united, however, is that there is a vast difference between other authorities, no doubt acting in their own self-interest, forming a resolution in Ireland and bullying our country. That shines no light on our country and encourages some kind of feeling of victimhood which, at this stage in our plight, is the last thing our country needs and it must be strongly rejected.

I refer to the timing of the legislation. The programme this country agreed with the IMF and the ECB states that this legislation needs to be in place by next February. If the deadline is next February, why was this legislation brought in now? The explanation the Minister gave was all about the need to provide a framework to accelerate and put in place further amounts of capital into our banks. We have been putting capital into our major banks under the current legislative regime. If the current law works in regard to the injection of capital into our banks, why is this new law required?