Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)

I support my colleagues on their criticisms of the repayment of some of the unsecured bondholders. It is a startling fact that €34 billion worth of bonds were repaid to investors - investors are risk-takers - despite the fact that these bonds were insured by a Government against default. We did not ask the bondholders whether they were insured, we just wrote the cheque for €34 billion and sent it back to them. It is hard to credit that this country would pay that money and then cut our own citizens' services and entitlements. This is the height of bad government. Senator Crown referred to people who had paid for the insurance but did not need to exercise it with the result that the insurance company in question avoided any liability because of what could be described as bad management by the Government. Some of the implications for Ireland in the document mentioned are referred to as being of "some significance". This is the report we have received. Decisions on Libya, Belarus and other wide-ranging decisions were taken on 4 March 2011 when we did not even have a Government and they were rubber-stamped by the European bureaucrats and without much notice having been taken by anyone.

Other speakers have referred to the issue of the apartments at Priory Hall and that it will cost €200,000 to provide accommodation for the residents up to 28 November. Nobody knows what will happen after that but there are vacant apartments in the vicinity, in Belmayne and Clongriffin, which are in the control of the Government by way of NAMA. They are fully fitted out and ready to be used and yet €200,000 will be expended on hotel accommodation. Why are the facilities which, unfortunately, we own, not being used to accommodate these people? I note that unqualified people can set themselves up as architects and engineers because there is no law to stop them. Similarly, one can set up as a psychologist, put up a brass plate, take the money from people and give them advice which one is not qualified to give. This is also a failure of regulation and there are no implications for those who-----