His party instead favoured setting up "a good bank", with a credit facility of up to €20 billion. This "National Recovery Bank" would have no toxic assets and so could lend to small businesses at reasonable rates, he said.

It is somewhere between gratifying and amusing to see a conservative Irish political party putting forth a proposal so similar to what I proposed eleven months ago for the US.  At the very least it should get money from the banking sector flowing in increased quantities to Fine Gael.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."