Sir, – Vincent Browne (Opinion Analysis, October 24th) insists that the Labour Party voted against the bank guarantee on technical issues and not the scale of the guarantee. However, he could disabuse himself of this notion if he referred to the official Dáil record. On the October 1st, 2008, Eamon Gilmore asked the then tánaiste, “How much are we being asked to guarantee? Figures floating around have ranged from €300 billion to €500 billion. When I asked the Taoiseach about it yesterday he suggested to the House that this would never be called in, that no payment would ever be required from the taxpayer for this guarantee. Yet, the Bill explicitly provides for payment and there is a Financial Resolution before the House that requires for payment from the Exchequer. What exactly are we being asked to guarantee? In the Bill there seems to be no limit.”
In a follow-up question, Mr Gilmore asked: “How much will we guarantee? What will be paid for it? Will we see the conditions beforehand and will the Government do something about the excessive rewards that those seeking the guarantee pay themselves? These are simple questions and if the Tánaiste is not able to answer them perhaps the Minister for Finance will provide satisfactory answers during the course of the day. If those fundamental questions are not answered to our satisfaction, the Labour Party will not support this Bill this evening.”
It is clear if you read the full exchange that the primary concern of the Labour Party was whether we, the Irish people, were being asked to sign a blank cheque for the banks, which was exactly what we were doing. – Yours, etc,