Irish minister urges speedy bad bank law approval

DUBLIN, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Ireland needs to complete its 54 billion euro "bad bank" plan fast after a protracted parliamentary debate that has seen the same arguments being rehearsed "time and again", Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said.

"We have to move on as a country, we are not going to rescue our banking system if we don't make a collective effort to repair it," Lenihan told the upper house of parliament, which began debating the plan on Monday.

Investors have sold off shares in top Irish banks on concerns about delay to the legislation to set up the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA).

The law is expected to be debated in the upper house in the first half of the week, before returning to the lower house for a final vote on Thursday.

(Reporting by Andras Gergely)