Lenihan says guaranteed banks were like orphans

SEANAD REPORT: THE BANKS that had been supported by the Government would have been "orphans" if such backing had not been given, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan told the Seanad during the marathon debate on the Credit Institutions Bill 2008.

On the approach that had been taken by the Government, he asked if anyone believed that had they nationalised an institution, it would not have resulted in a run on all the institutions in a small country such as this.

"We must devise policy which is appropriate for our country . . . we were on our own last Monday evening. People are complaining that only six institutions are covered by the proposed measure. The six institutions in question would have been orphans in the world if the sovereign Irish State had not supported them last Monday evening," he said.

"All the other institutions which want recognition have other sovereigns behind them . . . We had six institutions which had no one to turn to but the sovereign Irish State."

Commenting, following the passing of the Bill, the Minister said he was always struck by the integrity and professionalism of the public service. When the initial difficulties had presented themselves in the banking sector, in early September, it had been necessary for him and his officials to take a number of other officials into their confidence so that a balanced assessment could be made of what was required. He had been very impressed that these confidences had never been broken, because this was a very important issue when an attempt was being made to deal with a crisis of this magnitude.

Mary White (FF) said the need for competitiveness should be tackled with the same urgency as the banking problem. During the debate on the emergency legislation to underpin banking operations, she had been thinking about the need for cross-party support for a call on the Government to make competitiveness a priority. The recession would get worse unless the Government made this issue a priority.

© 2008 The Irish Times

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