THE OPPOSITION parties have demanded that any banking inquiry should be held in public, but a Government spokesman has insisted that the future stability of the banking system is the priority.
Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore said yesterday a full public inquiry into what happened was essential. Speaking on RTÉ Radio's This Weekprogramme, he said there was an urgent need for a public inquiry and not a secret one.
Fine Gael deputy leader and finance spokesman Richard Bruton also said the public had a right to see those involved in the banking crisis being held accountable in public.
“The Dáil must assert its duty to hold public policy and its execution up to scrutiny, and this must be done in public.
“The general public have in many cases seen their livelihoods destroyed, and taxpayers have been lumbered with debts that will beset them for years.”
Mr Bruton said people had a right to see those who landed them with these debts publicly explain what went wrong, as the essence of effective regulation was proper accountability.
“Conducting a banking inquiry in camera would damage the effectiveness of such an inquiry.
“The people involved were public people who were entrusted with tasks for which they were paid handsomely, and they have a duty to be accountable in public to the people whose livelihoods have been destroyed.”
Labour and Fine Gael were responding to newspaper reports yesterday that the Government intended to hold a private inquiry, along the lines of the Murphy commission report into the response of the Catholic Church to child abuse in the Dublin diocese.
A Government spokesman said last night that the Taoiseach had consistently stated in interviews that any inquiry into the banking crisis would need careful consideration as the immediate priority of the Government was to ensure the successful restructuring of our banking system.
He said all those involved in that vital task should not be distracted in the short term by the demands of an inquiry.
The spokesman said the Taoiseach had pointed out that there would be merit in determining what went wrong in the banks so as to ensure that it didn’t happen again.
The Taoiseach also agreed with the governor of the Central Bank, Prof Patrick Honohan, that the key question was how best such an inquiry could be conducted.
He added that any inquiry process must avoid compromising or frustrating the investigations under way into specific allegations of misbehaviour or wrong-doing, especially those with potentially criminal consequences.