Madam, – We are told that parts of the inquiry into the current financial mess are to be held in camera.
It seems odd that the greatest robbery ever perpetrated in the State should be treated with such discretion.
The death of the so-called Celtic Tiger was due to a combination of greed, stupidity and conspiracy.
The dog in the street knows who the stupid and greedy players were, so one can only conclude that the exclusion of the public from parts of the inquiry is to protect the conspirators. I am reliably informed that civil servants with senority comparable to that of the fatuously titled Financial Regulator had, of course, nothing to do with the format of the inquiry. – Yours etc,
Madam, – Why do we need a statutory inquiry to tell us that you’ll lose your shirt if you lend money to people who have no demonstrable means of paying it back? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Opposition spokespeople have all condemned the Government’s plans for a non-public inquiry into the banking crisis. If this is to be more than futile gesture politics, they must go a step further.
Labour and Fine Gael must solemnly pledge that a real public inquiry would be held when they are next in government, that any supposed constitutional barriers would be put to a referendum, and that a special fraud squad would be set up to deal with any wrongdoing.
These promises would concentrate the minds of those giving answers to the proposed sweet-heart inquiry, which I presume will at least be a sworn inquiry, subject to the rules of perjury.
A real inquiry should also investigate the decisionmaking process that went into the bank guarantee, something we can be very sure will be outside the terms of reference of any Fianna Fáil-instigated inquiry. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The Government’s choice of banking inquiry isn’t sexy – but it is sensible.
The independent, statutory commission of investigation will ensure that we get to the facts in an effective, speedy and cost-efficient way.
There’s no doubt a public parliamentary inquiry would have made for riveting viewing.
However, it would inevitably have descended into farce and point-scoring, given the lack of bipartisan politics here.
In the midst of all the misinformation being bandied around, it is easy to forget that the most significant elements of the inquiry, namely the two preliminary reports and the commission’s report, will be published and subjected to public scrutiny.
Cleary, the chosen model of inquiry combines the best of all options. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The governor of the Central Bank is independent under the Treaty of Maastricht. Under no circumstance should he, or the Central Bank, co-operate with the Government’s proposed sham banking inquiry.
Instead, Patrick Honohan should reiterate his call for an independent 9/11 commission-style inquiry.
It is time the Central Bank restored confidence in Ireland, even if the Government refuses to do so. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I remember Minister for the Environment John Gormley saying he wanted to see guilty bankers being dispatched to jail in handcuffs. Well, that did not happen. The “demand” for the banking inquiry to be held in public, as far as possible, was the latest of his wish-list items to go unfulfilled.
Following from Fintan O’Toole’s excellent article (“Inquiry must look at role of politics”, January 19th), Mr Gormley and the Greens would have been better off acknowledging that no inquiry is better than one that is simply a whitewash – and that involves spending a shedload of money we do not have.
Truly the Greens in government have proven themselves to be as useful as a chocolate teapot. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Once again, Martyn Turner (January 20th) captures the bank inquiry issue in a nutshell.
Well done! – Yours, etc,