Cabinet talks on bank guarantee ‘off limits’ to inquiry

The Oireachtas banking inquiry has been told that the minutes and discussions of the cabinet meeting on the night of the bank guarantee are off limits to its investigations.

The 11 member committee met again today and was given legal advice that while it will be able to examine memos and other supporting documentation prepared for the Fianna Fáil-Green cabinet, the deliberations of ministers during the meeting will not be open to it.

In a statement released this afternoon, Ciarán Lynch, the inquiry chairman, said the committee was “briefed on the minimisation of the risks of the committee being challenged in its work”. It was told “ issues such as cabinet confidentiality should not have a major bearing on the committee’s work”.

However, sources said the committee was told the contents of the incorporeal cabinet meeting of September 30th, 2008, will not be open to investigation or questioning because of the constitutional right to cabinet confidentiality.

“We won’t be able to look at the minutes or ask anyone about what was said at the meeting,” one source said.

The bank guarantee, which covered deposits up to €100,000 and left Irish taxpayers exposed to €440 billion in liabilities, was agreed on September 30th, 2008, after meetings in Government Buildings between senior bankers, the then taoiseach Brian Cowen and then minister for finance Brian Lenihan.

Mr Lynch also said there is a “general desire that the inquiry be concluded by November 2015”.

“The committee agreed that the secretariat should draw up a high-level scoping document giving consideration to aspects of the banking crisis to be inquired into to enable the committee to move towards establishing terms of reference and, in doing so, provide more detail to setting in place the inquiry plan,” Mr Lynch said.

“There was a general desire that the inquiry would be concluded by November 2015 and the Committee agreed in principle to work towards having a proposal ready for the Committees of Procedure and Privileges (CPP) of both houses when the Dáil and Seanad resume in September.”