Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

First and foremost, the situation with Permanent TSB is outrageous. God be with the days when one could walk into the office of a bank manager, sit down with him or her and discuss a matter. I will never forget the generosity of the bank manager who dealt with me when I went bust financially. He sat me down in his office and gave me a cup of tea and biscuits before proceeding to discuss how I would transfer my home to him. As my colleagues have said here this morning, the Permanent TSB is a State-owned company. God help us if that is what we are up to now.

All day yesterday and this morning I felt a sense of foreboding. We are back where we were with regard to Northern Ireland and we cannot get an Assembly. What has happened is detrimental. We visited north Belfast during the summer and there was a lot of correlation between north Belfast and north Dublin because there were thugs in the wings waiting to start up again.

I deeply regret having to say the following. Right now there is no republican voice in Westminster. There is nobody there to speak for the republicans who live in the North of Ireland. There is nobody in Westminster to represent the citizens of the Republic of Ireland who have passports in the North of Ireland and who are unable to have a voice. I urge Senator Conway-Walsh not to look at me in that way.