Skulduggery most unpleasant in banking inquiry fiasco

The Government’s move this morning to impose an artificial Coalition majority on the fledgling banking inquiry is simply astonishing.

Outraged accusations of “skulduggery” were thrown in the Seanad chamber as Opposition Senators attempted to revolt against the Government’s transparent effort to engineer the membership of the investigative panel.

The Government is banking on its belief that the public is not interested enough in how majorities on committees are secured, or perhaps already suffering from inquiry fatigue, to object.

The Government’s feelings of insecurity about the inquiry began when its supporters in the Seanad failed to back Labour Senator Susan O’Keeffe as one of the original nine inquisitors.

Ms O’Keeffe herself was absent, later saying she was in Sligo supporting her daughter as the Leaving Cert got underway.

Others expected to back Ms O’Keeffe were not present either, allowing the nomination of Marc MacSharry of Fianna Fáil, and swaying the balance in favour of the Opposition.

Fine Gael Senator Maurice Cummins claimed that Mr MacSharry had a conflict of interest, which he declined to elaborate on. He later withdrew the remark.

It seemed the Government would have to live with the unusual position of being in a minority on a committee.

But the Coalition has ploughed ahead and this morning named Ms O’Keeffe on the Seanad order paper as a new member of an extended committee, now with 11 rather than nine members.

Labour Seanad leader Ivana Bacik gamely attempted to welcome Ms O'Keeffe's re-nomination, declaring that it would bring "some measure of gender balance" to the previously all-male line-up.

The problem with that argument is that the other new Government nominee is a man - Fine Gael Senator Michael D’Arcy.

Meanwhile in the Dáil chamber, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, who is working out his notice as Labour leader, has gone so far as to accuse Fianna Fail and others of having participated in a "parliamentary stroke".

However, criticism of the Government’s move has not been confined to the Opposition benches and Minister of State, and Labour leadership candidate, Alex White described it as “giving politics a bad name”.

Party colleague Dominic Hannigan, from Meath East, also said it was "bad politics".

Mr Hannigan said the Government should have allowed the original committee of nine to stand, and has made a bad situation worse.