The people have endured a great deal of pain in recent years. Although they have suffered under austerity and all the tough and gruelling budgets of the past five to six years, they have done so against a backdrop of €90 billion of taxpayers' money going into the banks in some form, shape or fashion. More than €30 billion of the money that went into the banks went to recapitalise the pillar banks. The State still has a shareholding in some of the banks, with a 15% shareholding in Bank of Ireland. Some €10 billion of that investment in the banks was to be used to offset losses in the domestic mortgage market but that has not happened yet. The banks have not played ball with people in mortgage distress. I do not believe the State or the people of this country can have confidence in Mr. Richie Boucher or the senior executives of the Bank of Ireland when they are paying themselves exorbitant salaries. It is not tenable for Mr. Boucher to be paid more than €800,000 a year when people are suffering and when many of the customers of that bank are struggling to pay their mortgages. In fact they cannot pay them or pay any of their bills, and cannot even put food on the table, yet this person seems to think it is acceptable to walk away with €800,000 and more.

As long as they can do it that is what they will get.

I do not believe it is about expressing confidence in the bank. This is about the State showing dissatisfaction with the enormous levels of salary that are still being paid to people who are part of the problem. They were part of it in the first place and remain so. This is a person who showed he was inflexible and intransigent when he attended an Oireachtas committee. He showed the contempt he had for elected Members of this and the Lower House and for the people when he refused to engage with these elected representatives, yet the Minister for Finance will not even stand up and make the case that these salaries are completely unjustified.

The Senator is way over time.

The Government has a responsibility to stand up for the people. It is shocking that the Minister for Finance will not use his vote, the 15% shareholding which belongs to the people, and stand up for the majority who will not agree with the huge salary that will be signed off on today by the banks. Although I agree it is important that ordinary shareholders show solidarity-----

The Senator is way over time.

-----it is also important that the State shows social solidarity and the Minister should do exactly that today.