Banking inquiry should report within six months, says Fine Gael

FINE GAEL has proposed a parliamentary inquiry into the banking system with a mandate to report within six months.

Party leader Enda Kenny yesterday announced the decision to back a Dáil-based inquiry and said he had written to the other party leaders asking them to support the plan.

Speaking in Dublin after a special parliamentary party meeting in advance of the resumption of the Dáil next week, Mr Kenny said that his predecessor, Michael Noonan, would be the Fine Gael representative on such an inquiry.

“We can never allow greedy bankers, reckless developers and light-touch regulation cripple our economy again. That is why an inquiry into our banking crisis is critical to both our international reputation and our understanding of the political and regulatory actions or inaction that contributed to the collapse of this vital sector of our economy. That is why I am publishing the terms of reference of Fine Gael’s Dirt-style Dáil-based inquiry,” said Mr Kenny.

While he said Taoiseach Brian Cowen was likely to be one of the witnesses, given his former role as minister for finance, Mr Kenny insisted that a Dáil inquiry would not be turned into a political football. “The inquiry that Fine Gael has in mind will inquire into the factors, domestic and global, which have led to the banking crisis that has engulfed the Irish economy,” said Mr Kenny, who insisted that it could take place without a change in the law.

He said among the things it would investigate would be the policies and administrative decisions of Government and its agencies, and the influence on policy of the relationship between politics, banking and the property development industry.

It would also look at the lending practices of financial institutions, the impact on bank behaviour of the concept that certain financial institutions are “too big to fail” and the tax, planning and regulatory policies that contributed to the bank financing of the property and construction sectors.

“I am also writing to all the other party leaders seeking their support for these terms of reference, which would be published as a private members’ motion and voted on by the Dáil,” said Mr Kenny.

His deputy leader and party finance spokesman Richard Bruton said the economic and financial calamity that occurred in Ireland in the last 18 months had resulted from the biggest failures in public administration and private sector governance in the history of the State. “Part of the reason that Ireland is in deep crisis is the political culture that preferred to avoid the scandal of revelation. If we are to be able to move on as a country from this disaster, the Dáil must be seen to fulfil its responsibility and demand transparency and accountability from those who were in positions of trust and responsibility,” he said.

The Labour Party has also called for a parliamentary inquiry into the banks but has proposed a change in the law to ensure that it has the necessary powers to operate within the constraints imposed by the Supreme Court that a Dáil committee has no power to make findings on any individual’s civil or criminal liability. The Government has said it will discuss the banking issue in detail next Tuesday including “the obvious need to learn lessons from the events that led to current problems” and will subsequently clarify its position in the Dáil.