I am well aware that not only did Fianna Fáil set this remuneration package of €16,000 per week but also that the former Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr. Joe Walsh, is chairman of the remuneration committee of the bank in question.

Can we avoid dealing with individuals, please?

I am fully conversant with the facts. The Taoiseach spoke about the need for clarity. In this episode there is absolute clarity: the outrageous remuneration package of a banker is not to be touched. The Minister for Finance, rather than register a protest in this regard, will abstain and allow this obscenity to go through on the nod. At the same time, the Government is eye-balling nurses, gardaí and front-line staff, telling them that they have to take more pain.

A question, please.

The Taoiseach may claim and may have been brainwashed by his colleagues into believing 87% of public and civil servants are untouched by the deal.

The Deputy is over time.

When workers did the sums in respect of their households and families, they took a different view.

Will the Deputy put her question, please?

Will the Taoiseach explain to public and civil servants such as clerical officers why the Government is being so aggressive with them and so gentle with Richie Boucher? I ask the Taoiseach to answer that straightforward question.

I remind Deputies that we are fortunate to enjoy absolute privilege in this House and ask them to refrain from using this opportunity to raise individual matters.

The names are in the public domain.

The Deputy is quite prepared to name people on some occasions but not on others. That has been a trait of the Sinn Féin Party for many years.

Really.

The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, on behalf of the Government, put in place the process of independent analysis of the pay scales and pension packages of bankers. As I said, this issue was reported on to the Government by Mercer. The Minister has also made a recommendation on behalf of the Government that banks reduce their cost base by between 6% and 10%. He expects to receive a response in this regard in the next couple of weeks. As I said, it is expected that it will include a substantial contribution from the leadership of the banks. It is important that everybody understand the banks are an important part of Ireland's financial economy. They are not making money and would not be in existence but for the taxpayer. It is important that the Government squeeze the banks and require them to reduce their cost base.

Cast your vote.

Everybody understands the difficulties all of the people the Deputy mentioned have to deal with every day of the week. We are borrowing over €1 billion per month to pay salaries.

Has the Taoiseach told Richie that?

We will never have the country we want until we get the public finances in order.

The Taoiseach should sing that song to him.

As part of this process, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan-----

Will abstain on the payment of a €843,000 salary.

-----made a recommendation following receipt of the Mercer report to the Government that banks reduce their cost base by between 6% and 10%. The Minister expects to receive a response from the banks to this recommendation in the next two weeks which will include a substantial contribution from the bank leadership on pay and pensions.

That is the Taoiseach's answer to the nurses.

I, too, wish the Taoiseach a happy birthday. I hope his colleagues will help him to cut the cake. There is, however, little on which I can compliment him. More than two years ago Fine Gael received a mandate, one of the finest ever given to a Government, to deal with the situation in the country, in respect of which it has been an abject failure.

Today we will witness the annual charade that is the Bank of Ireland AGM, a charade in which shareholder power is held up to mockery and the real power of the vultures and the board will once again be asserted over the interests of small shareholders. Also present will be the Bank of Ireland's chief executive, Mr. Richie Boucher, who continues to be paid an obscene salary of €843,000 per annum, despite the sense of disgust and outrage among people across the country.

The Taoiseach's response to Deputy Mary Lou McDonald was just idle words because we know nothing is happening. This annual salary package is only €157,000 short of the €1 million the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, announced yesterday would be provided to assist farmers in the fodder crisis. This puts things in perspective in terms what is being done for ordinary people, whom the Taoiseach, coming from a rural constituency, should know well. We have heard today that the new governor of the Bank of Ireland, Mr. Archie Kane, will receive a package of €500,000 per annum or €10,000 per week. At the same time, the Government is trying to cut the salaries of public servants, jobseekers are being paid €188 per week, young people are being paid €100 per week, while front-line workers, including gardaí, nurses and council workers, are being penalised, threatened and bullied. Five Labour Party Deputies appealed to the Minister in the House yesterday to do something about this issue. How long more are they expected to sit idly by?

Fianna Fáil signed off on it.

It is a separate party.

Do not get me stuck on the banks issue. Deputy Arthur Spring was there himself.

It is welcome that the Deputy is concerned about pay now.

Deputy Arthur Spring could tell us about Anglo-Irish Bank.

The AGM presents the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, with an opportunity to stand up on behalf of taxpayers on the issue of bankers' outrageous salaries.

They have a brass neck.

However, the Minister bottled it. He could have used the Government's 15% shareholding to vote against the proposal which is certain to be passed now.

The Deputy is over time.

Is the Taoiseach prepared to defend the cowardice and inaction of the Minister? The Minister will vote in favour of every other resolution, including those on the re-election of Mr. Boucher, Mr. Archie Kane and all of the other directors. We all know that Mr. Boucher was an enthusiast of the property boom.

Can we, please, have some respect for Deputy Mattie McGrath?

Deputy Mattie McGrath is over time.

He is unable to speak because of the interruptions.

I have told Deputy Mattie McGrath that he is over time. What is his question?

I will put my question, if I am allowed to do so.

The Deputy is making a speech.

Does the Taoiseach intend to stand over the cowardice on the part of the Minister? The then Minister for Finance, Deputy Lenihan, God be good to him, said that if they would not do it themselves, he would legislate for it.

Thank you, Deputy. I ask the Deputy to resume his seat as he is a minute over time.

Will he legislate for it or stop this outrageous charade that is going on in the Burlington Hotel today and all over our country? Have we become a refuge for failed bankers from other countries?

Hear, hear.

Before the Taoiseach replies I want to put on the record that under Standing Order 59 it is not allowed to name people in this House unless the Deputy gives prior notice to the Ceann Comhairle of the day and a good reason for doing so. I ask Deputies to respect the Standing Orders. This is not a Chamber where people's reputations are taken asunder. I will not sit here and allow people's reputations to be taken away, irrespective of who they are. My job is to ensure that we adhere to the Standing Orders of this House, and there is a good reason there is a Standing Order which protects the reputation of individuals. I will not allow Deputies to use this Chamber, under the cover of privilege, to make allegations against members of the public who are not here to defend themselves. It is up to other people outside this Chamber to deal with this issue, or else the Members can change Standing Orders but I apply Standing Orders.

I understand the Ceann Comhairle's ruling. Deputy McGrath's Second Stage speech outside the church gate sounds very well-----

The Taoiseach is good at it himself.

-----but he refuses to accept or recognise that he, Deputy Mattie McGrath, was party to a proposition and a Government which left this country with the highest deficit on the planet of 32.5% of GDP when it was thrown out of office.

History.

That is the legacy we have.

Deputy McGrath has the temerity to come in here and to accuse the Minister, Deputy Noonan, of cowardice.

What else is it?

I want to tell the Deputy one thing; he can accuse the Minister of many things but he can never accuse him of cowardice.

Hear, hear.

He is the Minister who, on behalf of Government, put in place the process to try to do something about a situation which was inherited by the Government because contracts were approved and signed off by the previous Fianna Fáil Administration and because of that process, the Government commissioned a report into bankers' pay, conditions, salaries, pensions and so on. That report was conducted by Mercer and it reported to Government. The Government made its recommendation through engaging with the Minister, the Department of Finance and the banks and because he has that process in train, he expects to have the recommendation responded to in the next two weeks. My understanding is that there will be a substantial and significant contribution from the leadership of banks in respect of pay and pensions. That is something that everybody here would welcome. These banks are only in existence because of the taxpayer and it is right and proper that Government would force and require banks to reduce their cost base in order that they can become solvent again and play a part that they should be able to play in the development of our economy for the times ahead.

The Taoiseach has a short memory. I remember he and his party voting-----

Deputy McGrath supported the bank guarantee.

Can I speak? I have always acknowledged that I made a mistake in voting for the bank guarantee but the Taoiseach voted for-----

On the next occasion the Deputy will say sorry and it will all be okay; that is great then.

It does not make it okay.

Will the Deputy put his supplementary question?

I am; I am just correcting the record and stating the facts. The Taoiseach and all those on his Front Bench and his backbenchers or those who were Members at the time, voted for it.

Will the Deputy put his question? This is Leaders' Questions.

Unlike his colleagues, the sheep on the Labour Party benches are making noises, but what will they do? What action will they take?

How can the Taoiseach or the Minister, Deputy Noonan, possibly retain any shred of credibility? The Minister has a 15% shareholding in the bank on behalf taxpayers and he had the opportunity to do something today. We have once again put the fox in charge of the chickens. We have once again exposed ourselves to the charge that we are not really serious about banking reform. It is indefensible.

Just because the Deputy says he is sorry does not make it okay.

Will Deputy McGrath put his question?

I have one question. Is the Government beholden to Mr. Boucher?

Thank you, Deputy.

He gave the Government a dig out last year in regard to the promissory notes. Is the Government totally beholden to him? Is the Government to be beholden to him or to the troika, our European colleagues?

The Deputy is an embarrassment.

The Government members are embarrassing themselves. Are they beholden to Mr. Boucher to the extent that they allow him to have a reckless-----

Did the Deputy totally ignore what I asked him to do, namely, not to mention names?

I did not. This matter is being discussed at the moment down in the Burlington Hotel.

But not in this Chamber under my chairmanship.

It is covered in every newspaper. Are we going to be silenced in here and let the bankers ravage our country?

I call the Taoiseach to reply but I do not know to what question he is to reply.

First, I want to confirm that it was not because of the bleatings of Deputy Mattie McGrath that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine was able to put €1 million extra on the table yesterday to deal with the fodder shortage for hard pressed farmers.

Second, when the Deputy speaks of courage, he did not have the courage to put his name behind the Fianna Fáil banner and stand before the people. He ran because he was afraid to face the people with that brand on his forehead.

He got off the sinking ship.

He was afraid-----

I stood up for what I felt was wrong.

-----to knock on doors in Tipperary and say "I represent the Fianna Fáil Party".

They are waiting for the Taoiseach to come back with Deputy Hayes.

He showed absolute cowardice and lack of courage and far be it from him to come in here and preach about others. The Deputy proved it himself; he did not have the gumption to say "I was selected by the party, I represent the party".

Answer the question.

The Deputy fled in the face of the people because of the brand image that the party carried with it at the time.

What happened in the case of the lady the Taoiseach brought into the bank who wanted to take out a mortgage?

The Minister, Deputy Noonan, put in place the process for attempting to deal-----

What about the lady the Taoiseach brought into the bank in Meath to get a mortgage? What did she get?

-----with banking contracts that were signed before this Administration's time and that process is in place. The Minister will attend at the AGM, I understand, but because it is his understanding that the response to the recommendation he made arising out of the Mercer report to Government is that there will be a substantial and significant contribution from bank leadership, he has made a decision in that regard. I expect that to be a significant and major contribution-----

Live horse and you will get grass.

-----and it is right that it should be because these are extraordinary salaries.

He had his chance this morning at the AGM.

That completes Leaders' Questions.