Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I second Senator O'Brien's amendment to the Order of Business. I accept what Senator Coghlan is saying in some respects. However, while the banks may be commercial institutions, we cannot ignore the fact that they are central to our economic problems and they must also be central to finding solutions to those problems. The fact that a senior banker is being paid €800,000 per year is unacceptable. It is not right to suggest that we have to adopt a hands-off approach in regard to that while at the same time trying to convince the rest of the population that they must accept austerity measures. The Irish people are accepting those austerity measures in very good spirit but also in the hope that something will change.

The Bank of Ireland AGM made for dismal viewing on television last night.

It was left to Deputy Ross to make the case that we have to be making here and the Government should be making. I do not know how long the patience of the people will continue - we seem to expect a lot from them. We are not in the blame game politically - it is not about that. If it is a commercial institution and we take it off the radar, then the banks disappear behind a smokescreen and in some way we cannot give answers to the types of questions asked at yesterday's AGM. After bailing out the banks, there is something wrong in the methodology that is being applied in regard to the banks and they need to be held accountable in the Oireachtas. That does not take from the requirement for them to be viable commercially. Nobody is suggesting that.

However, we are dealing with an unusual situation just as it was an unusual situation for the taxpayers to have to bail out the banks. We can say it was Fianna Fáil or somebody else who did it - we have gone way beyond that stage. People are weary of that type of debate, which leads us into a cul-de-saceach time while people on the ground are still suffering.

I do not believe we have seen the end of the austerity measures in spite of the signals coming from some Ministers. The austerity measures coming down the line may not be as open as before. They will be some kind of hidden tax. However, we have obligations to Europe. We cannot accept that anybody is entitled to €800,000 a year while somebody else is expected to live on €200 or €230 a week. That is the bottom line. We should not make excuses for the banks either. We are only fuelling the situation by making those excuses. If it is not in the generosity of anybody earning €800,000 a year to stop and say, "Wouldn't I be doing very well if I got €200,000 a year?", then pressure needs to be applied. While not necessarily legally, we have to apply pressure. The Government should have used its 15% stake and voted at the AGM, even if it might not have been seen as correct in economic or commercial circles. We need to send out a clear message that austerity in the future will not work. It is not working now and will not work in the future unless we hold these people to account and they also become part of the solution.