Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The good news from the Minister of State lies in table 2, in that the ¤375 billion has been reduced to ¤78 billion. It was a disaster for Ireland. Many of those responsible have managed to escape. Today, we are finally catching up with the accountants. Did they sanction money going into a bank at 11.50 p.m. and exiting at 12.10 a.m. for years? We have asked questions. When will the Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board, CARB, break into a trot and do something about these matters? Too many of the people who caused our problems have managed to escape scot free.

We sleepwalked into the euro. Design faults were well known at the time and highlighted by people such as Milton Friedman. For example, there was no banking regulation, nothing to defend a small country from tsunamis of credit from large countries, the loss of the interest rate as an instrument of economic policy - when we needed higher interest rates, Germany gave us lower ones - the loss of the exchange rate, which we used fairly effectively in the 1990s, and no fiscal federalism. We need to increase the level of economic expertise available to governments.

I do not know whether incorporeal Cabinet meetings still exist, but the case in question was disastrous.

Some Ministers were in Sandymount and not told the meeting was on and another would have come from Limerick had he known there was a meeting. We should do our business properly in governing the country.

There are very enthusiastic Europeans in the Government and the public service and we tend to be naïve. The euro, as a product, should have been properly analysed, and we have a chance to remedy much of that when we take on the Presidency. We are not there to cheer defective European institutions and policies as we have paid a significant price for some of those policies. Better business, including the same reforms that are to be implemented in this country, may have to be put in operation in Europe.

There should be control of lobbying. Bankers were able to do this and the record of the construction industry in this area does not do much when we are trying to promote fiscal responsibility, as the Minister is trying to do. There must be better control of public finances. Yesterday we heard that ¤1.5 billion is being spent on a rail safety budget, with over ¤200 million on new railway signals between Lansdowne Road and Howth Junction. Do some Departments still not analyse projects properly? Are the Houses allowed to analyse such issues? There are too many redacted documents issued by big spending Departments.

I wish the Ministers and Minister of State every success but even if we had not got into trouble with our banks, there was a tendency to overspend in the country. As others have said, we can see the consequences now with 14% unemployment where the rate was 4%, as well as the problem of massive negative equity that the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, is trying to tackle. We must learn many lessons from the period between 2008 and 2010. Sometimes people have got away scot free and we have papered over cracks. There has been a tendency to hire more public relations personnel and take laps of honour. All Members of the Oireachtas, including those in this House, were elected to change a system that had run onto the rocks. We must never lose sight of the need for that reform agenda.

I compliment the Minister on decreasing those debts which came about under the guarantee scheme but what defence will we have when another industry goes broke? Is it too easy to achieve regulatory capture of the Government? What defences do citizens have, as we were powerless for many of those years? The people made the decision in the spring of 2011, and the previous Government with 85 seats was reduced to an opposition party of 19 seats. Too many of the other institutions which got us into this problem are still there and acting with impunity. We must never lose sight of the objective of bringing them to heel for the damage done to this country.