Jimmy Harte (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Lucinda Creighton, and congratulate her on appointment to her new portfolio and her recent wedding.

I am delighted to hear the Opposition defending the banks. Anyone who knows anything about investment banking will know that investment bankers earn phenomenal amounts in commission and bonuses. The figure of 0.6% to be taken from pension funds every six months could be made up by the investment banks which are making a great deal of money. While Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil are happy to back the investment banks, no one from that side of the House has yet suggested investment bankers should take a cut in the commission and bonuses they receive. Everyone else has taken a hit. News reports in the United Kingdom and the USA have highlighted the amounts being made by investment banks. We should not stop at taking 0.6% from pension funds but should pressurise investment banks to put back in some of the money they are earning.

Sinn Féin has stated the standardisation of pension reliefs would bring in €1 billion. This would do the exact same as that for which Sinn Féin is criticising the Government because people would continue to lose money in their pensions because they would not have any to put into their schemes.

I welcome other aspects of the Bill, including the reduction in the tourist tax. This is of importance to County Donegal which depends on people being flown into Galway and Dublin. This provision will help to boost tourism in the county.

The Irish Banking Federation has stated loans are being made available. In this regard, it has quoted an 88% approval rate. However, approval of and taking out a loan are different. As I understand it, while people are being offered money, they may only be offered €30,000 of the sum of €50,000 sought, which is of no use to them. Currently, when a person is refused a loan by a credit institution, he or she can appeal the matter to the Credit Review Office. I ask the Minister to consider providing that that office be the first point of call for loan applications. People could then submit its report with their loan applications. Often, they just give up when they have been refused by a bank. Their confidence would be boosted if they could obtain approval for a loan from the Credit Review Office prior to applying to the bank for it.