Central Bank to give banking inquiry secret information

The Government has agreed to change the law to allow the Central Bank provide confidential information to the Oireachtas Banking Inquiry.

The Central Bank (Amendment) Bill was brought to Cabinet by Minister for Finance Michael Noonan at the request of the legal advisers to the inquiry.

The Bill will provide a mechanism by which information can be released in confidence to the enquiry by the bank, without breaching the provisions of confidentiality.

The TDs and senators on the committee conducting the inquiry will be able to use the information to inform their deliberations but they will be debarred from making it public.

Any documents the committee accesses using the legislation will remain confidential but many inform the conclusions reached by the investigation.

The inquiry sought the change in legislation when it was informed that the powers of compellability which have been conferred on it were not sufficient to allow it access to confidential information held by the Central Bank.

Section 33 of the Central Bank Act of 1942 prohibits officers of the bank from contravening professional secrecy requirements relating to their work but the amendment will address the issue.

A Government spokesman said the change in the law will allow the committee members access to confidential information but the information will still remain confidential.

The Dáil last week approved a motion that will enable the banking inquiry to proceed with its oral hearings as early as next week.

Committee chairman Ciarán Lynch has said he expected the public hearings would begin before Christmas following the decision to give the inquiry the powers of investigation and compellability required to complete its work.

Mr Lynch said significant preparatory work had been carried out over the past few months with a contract signed with an expert group to advise on the first phase of the committee’s work.

The paid consultants will provide technical briefings to TDs and Senators on the committee during the first phase of the inquiry, which will examine the context of the banking collapse.

This will involve technical briefings about areas such as bank lending and liquidity management, mortgage exposures, and the nature, cost and scope of the decision to provide a blanket guarantee in September 2008.

During the context phase there will also be public hearings with relevant witnesses being asked to provide information which will inform the second or nexus phase of the inquiry.