The bottom line of the deal on our bank debt was that 850 people had been made jobless and that many of them would be joining the sad exodus from here, according to acting Fianna Fáil Seanad leader Mary White.

Instead of honouring its promise to create more jobs, the Government was demolishing them.

Ms White said we were a sovereign, proud independent State, but we had been treated despicably by the European Central Bank over the last year .

She said to add to our further demolition by the bank, some individual who wanted to cause trouble in Frankfurt had leaked information which had led to the precipitous introduction of legislation here.

Jim Walsh (FF) said he thought the Bill to deal with the Anglo Irish Bank legacy could be highly susceptible to a constitutional challenge,with all kinds of financial implications.

It seemed to him that the selective approach in the new law could be prejudicial to litigants who might take actions against the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, while other actions by the IBRC were being endorsed in law.

He wondered if the liquidator appointed to the company had any connection as an auditor or a consultant to any failed financial institution. It would be regrettable if this was the case.

David Norris (Ind) said the ECB was not a sentimental organisation. It seemed that we were giving away our last card and were prepared to continue to rely on the kindness of strangers. Frankfurt’s ways could be strange. “As far as I am concerned, we are in the hands of loan sharks.”

Government members contended that critics of the bank deal would be proved wrong.