I echo what Senator Conway said about the need for a debate and a report on banking in Ireland. Financial scandals are revealed on a daily basis such as Anglo Irish Bank today and AIB and the people who so little impressed the finance committee last week. Massive pensions are being paid to the people who, as Deputy Olivia Mitchell said on radio this morning, brought this country to ruin. I refer to ghost estates, the activities of NAMA, Anglo Irish Bank, AIB, the bailout money lining the pockets of bankers, their solicitors and their accountants. It is pulling the entire country down. The budget is, no doubt, occupying the Ministers, Deputies Noonan, Howlin and Hayes, but I hope that once the budget is dealt with that they will turn their attention to banking because it must be reformed and it needs a different kind of regulation. There is a significant lethargy and this is noticeable when trying to elicit a response when we proposed here that the Danish system of financing house purchase might be considered. Before it does any more damage, the financial sector needs to be debated and needs a shake-up.

I welcome the publication of a report yesterday entitled, Doing Business. It is a study of different countries which shows that Ireland has moved from No. 14 to tenth place as a country where it is easier to do business as defined under a series of indices. This is welcome and it highlights the structural reforms implemented by the Government. Senator Barrett has touched on a point I wished to make. We could consider many of the issues he has suggested in any examination of structural reform in this country. I refer to our level of regulation and the apparent shoddy standards we are happy to stand over and to which Senator Whelan referred in his contribution. I acknowledge that the Leader has addressed in many ways our concerns expressed yesterday about bankers' pensions and the pensions of other top earners. However, with respect, the Leader may have missed my point. I may not have made it clearly and I apologise to him if that is the case. The perception that is allowed to arise by the Government not tackling this issue leads to the risk of people becoming quite alienated from the State. This cannot be over-estimated and it demands our attention.

I was astounded at the response from the colleague across the floor to Senator Whelan's excellent suggestion that if people want to send Christmas cards they should pay for them. The idea that 250,000 Christmas cards are sent out from here and paid for by the very people who are receiving them seems to me to absolutely absurd. Perhaps if the reformed wing of Fianna Fáil would like to have a chat with the unreformed wing, we might be able to make some progress.

I support the call by a number of Senators this week for a debate on banking. There is no doubt that the people are outraged because of the pensions being paid to retired bankers who were the architects of many of the problems this country is facing. These people were responsible for very sharp practices in the banks which led to the collapse of the banking system and forced the Government - against its will - into a bank guarantee that we now know was a disaster for the people. We are still picking up the pieces, yet these are the people who are walking away with Rolls-Royce pensions over and above what most average workers cannot even imagine ever getting.

It is not only bankers who are given these massive pensions because politicians also get such pensions. Senator Whelan made a very important suggestion about capping pensions at €65,000. He will remember that the Minister, Deputy Brendan Howlin, brought forward proposals to reform pensions for senior officeholders. Sinn Féin supported some of these proposals. It was proposed that pensions would be calculated on career earnings rather than on final salary. Sinn Féin proposed a number of amendments seeking to cap pensions at €65,000 and those amendments were rejected by Senator Whelan and everyone in this Chamber who voted against them. We have to be consistent on these issues.

Not populist.

I make the same argument with regard to the banks. I understand why Senator Conway would argue for a banking inquiry but really what this country needs is for the Government to take control of banking policy. We saw what happened with the Personal Insolvency Bill in that we are still giving the banks a veto. We saw what happened with the recommendations in the Keane report, such as the mortgage to rent scheme and short selling. The finance committee was told by senior bankers that only 230 out of 10,000 people in mortgage distress with Bank of Ireland availed of those schemes because some of the banks have not signed up to the mortgage to rent scheme. We do not need inquiries into what is happening; we need the Government to take control of banking policy and to ensure that we, as legislators, rather than the banks, are driving and setting the agenda.