Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

To get back to the kernel of the motion, it is important this guarantee is extended. There is no alternative to this at the moment, in particular in light of the ongoing crisis in the eurozone.

I refer to the new Government's banking policy. The Minister of State and the Minister for Finance have taken a lot of the commendations they have been getting from the ECB and other commentators across Europe, although, effectively, it was the previous Government's banking policy, which is good. The only thing the Government has changed is that it is proceeding with the two pillar bank approach which is something this country will regret. If anything can be learned from the past number of years, it is that if we allow our banks to get too big - bigger than the economy itself - the risk to the State is grave. By insisting on the EBS which was the only lender lending to first-time buyers being subsumed by AIB which is lending nothing, we will, effectively, have only two Irish banks, namely, Bank of Ireland and AIB. Thanks to the British Exchequer, Ulster Banks operates in Ireland. There was an opportunity to sell the EBS to a US consortium, which would have created a proper third banking force and we will regret that lost opportunity.

It is welcome that the covered institutions must pay fees. How much will be paid in cash or preference shares? Understandably, Bank of Ireland was mentioned prominently by the Minister of State. Two weeks ago the Government organised a perp walk to Government Buildings. It dragged in the banks and told them to pass on the 0.25% rate reduction or else. As the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, commented, AIB did it when it was probably the only one with a reason not to do so. Why have Bank of Ireland and the ICS Building Society not done so? The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste promised legislation to give the regulator power to insist on ECB rate decreases being passed on to customers. Where is that legislation? When the Government asked the regulator whether he wanted that power, he said, "No." As I have been reminding colleagues in the House, the Government is meant to govern. It is not meant to ask the regulator what he wants. It should do what the public wants. The extension of the liabilities guarantee should have given the Government a large stick with which to beat Bank of Ireland and AIB, not just in terms of mortgage interest rates, but also in terms of the €3 billion per year that they have promised to lend, something they did not do under the previous Government.

What steps has the Government taken? Although propping up the banks and saving their bacon again is the right action for the Exchequer to take, it is not pleasant. Why has the Government not insisted on the ECB rate cuts being passed on to customers? Why will the Government not insist on the covered institutions lending in the real economy? There is no lending. Day after day, businesses are folding because they are not receiving the same support we are giving to the banks.