Government's policy on banks is not working, Gilmore

Posted on March 02, 2010 at 09:15 PM

"The Government policy on the banks is not working," the Labour Leader Eamon Gilmore TD told the Dail during Leaders' Questions this morning.

He spoke of how Ireland is now in its third calendar year of recession and a year since the Government announced its policy to establish NAMA. We challenged the blanket guarantee at the time and advocated nationalisation instead. Now commentators are speaking of how nationalisation is inevitable.

"We hear from businesses that 92 companies became insolvent last year and ISME has informed us that more than half of companies that apply for loans or overdraft facilities are refused. What is happening is that the banks are not lending to businesses. They are not lending. The Government policy on banking is not working and because of that many people in the country are no longer working."

The Government's banking policy is not working, Eamon said asking if the Government will continue with its banking policy which has resulted in little or no credit being made available to businesses with consequences for the survival of those businesses and for jobs.

"It is not working in the interests of the taxpayer, of businesses, or those who are losing their jobs, and it is time to change it. If the Taoiseach is not prepared to accept the alternatives proposed... he should at least present an alternative that has some prospect of success because what he is doing now is not working."

Watch Eamon's full contribution on the video and the whole Leaders' Questions on the Oireachtas website.

Tagged with Finance • eamongilmore • leadersquestions