UK MONIES AND THE IRISH ECONOMY

That this House is concerned by the report in The Irish Times of 19 January 2010 that six billion euros have been pumped into the capital base of the Irish subsidiaries of RBS and Lloyds TSB by these part-nationalised UK banks; recognises that not all of Ulster Bank's activities are in the Republic of Ireland but would prefer to see this six billion euros capital funding of Ulster Bank and Bank of Scotland (Ireland), which is provided indirectly by the UK taxpayer, returned to support lending to UK businesses and to see some of the shortfalls in capital at Ulster Bank and Bank of Scotland (Ireland) being provided by the Irish government.