During the Order of Business in the Seanad, I said: Yesterday one newspaper carried a report on the interests of Members of this House. I was rather embarrassed to discover that it said I was the only shareholder in Anglo Irish Bank, which is not correct...

I was a shareholder in a property which had an address at Anglo Irish Bank. I want to correct that point because I was embarrassed by the report.

I was pleased to discover yesterday that we were to have a debate on banking today. Such a debate should not take place on the Order of Business.

I am disappointed that such a debate is taking place on the Order of Business. Since yesterday we have had clarity on the amounts of money involved. Is the cost of bailing out the banks lower than the cost of letting them go to the wall? That is the debate we need to have today. We have allocated three hours and I hope we will have that debate.

I would like to see a debate take place very soon on the insurance industry. If it has been arranged for tomorrow, I am pleased. Like Senator O’Toole, I was jolted by the discovery this morning that we were still paying levies introduced on the collapse of PMPA 28 years ago. While I look forward to the debate tomorrow, we should also be discussing in today’s debate on banking the alternatives to what was proposed yesterday.

This is an interesting debate and it is the right time to have it. Let us make sure we will have it during the time allocated rather than on the Order of Business.