The Taoiseach seems to think that the euro that will be taken out of the pockets of families later this evening is different from the one that is paid to the banks. It is not. It is the same euro with a harp on one side and a little picture of Europe on the other. The idea that somehow it is a different kind of money is misleading people.

As we are just about five hours away from hearing what pain is going to be inflicted on families in this country, cuts in child benefit, in welfare, in the pay of people paying it out, to raise €4 billion, how many billion euro of the people's money has been paid over to the banks this year? As I read it, €4 billion has been paid to Anglo Irish Bank, €3.5 billion to the Bank of Ireland and another €3.5 billion to AIB, and that is before we come to NAMA. Will the Taoiseach tell the people, before he takes money out of their pockets this afternoon, how many billion euro have been paid this year to the banks?

As the Deputy knows, the recapitalisation that has taken place at the Bank of Ireland and AIB is in respect of preference shares that the State has taken in those banks. The Minister has indicated that ordinary shares will be involved in any further investments or recapitalisation required in the future. We are being paid for the guarantees that we have given and are ensuring that there is a return on the investment we are making in those banks.

I do not suggest for one moment that one euro is any different from another. The direct question I was answering was whether there is any prospect of a future recapitalisation of the banks being incorporated into the Budget Statement today and the answer is "No". Any investment the State makes in banks that require borrowings will be added to our debt requirement but that does not affect the budgetary figures in terms of the Exchequer borrowing requirement today. The issue for us is to see how we can have a strong, functioning banking system that will serve the economy and serve the people who depend on it.

This attempt to separate the interests of banking from the wider interest of the economy is an incorrect analysis. Every government has to invest in the banking system to provide a basis on which the economy can recover. In addition, we have to take whatever domestic policy decisions we need to bring our public finances back into order because our current position would not be sustainable if we did not take those actions. The Opposition must take that into account too.

The Taoiseach would like us to believe that the two things are entirely separate. He talks about recovering money from the banks. I do not know how he will do that because they are already looking for more. Anglo Irish Bank, having got €4 billion, is looking for another €5.7 billion; Bank of Ireland and AIB, having between them got €7 billion, are looking for another €7.2 billion.

The Labour Party wanted to nationalise the banks.

The people's hard-earned money is being paid over to the banks in whatever form the Taoiseach describes and billions will be taken out of people's pockets this afternoon because the Taoiseach and his party, and their developer and banker friends, have ruined this economy.

They were in Galway tent.

Money from the National Pensions Reserve Fund is being paid over to fund the banks because the Government for the past ten years fuelled a property bubble and stood over irresponsible lending and borrowing, without proper regulation. We are now in a situation where the banks are in trouble and the Government has to beggar ordinary people in order to pay for the economy.

The Labour Party demanded more.

When we come in here at 3.45 p.m. to hear the budget, we will hear the high price that the people have to pay for having Fianna Fáil in government for far too long.

Hear, hear.

They would be paying a higher price if the Labour Party was in government.

I suppose on the morning of any budget there will always be a lot of political rhetoric.

We have not heard much from the Government side.

The revisionism that is taking place is pretty predictable. Every developed country in the world faces a large and difficult economic and financial crisis.

It is not as big as the crisis here.

This country has been on autopilot.

We have made an adjustment of over €8 billion in gross terms in 2009 through tax and changes in expenditure in order to bring public finances under control.

How much has the Government put into the banks in the pastyear?

The purpose of this budget is to stabilise that deficit and to create the necessary confidence within the country, and externally, that it will manage its affairs, that this Government will take the decisions necessary to sustain public services in the future and that there is no way around that. We have a divided Opposition which, on the one hand, wants no cuts in services or welfare——

We have a divided Government.

We have not had a Government for the past ten years.

——no cuts here or there, but, on the other, suggests that we will tax our way out of this problem by making further impositions on labour and companies. That would not maintain jobs, it would destroy them.