Susan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. Although we discussed the legislation in question at some length when it was brought before the House, it is useful, given the level of public interest in the format of whatever banking inquiry is established, to have a further debate today. The Minister's proposals have already been described as a farce, with various faults and failings identified. This level of concern is not surprising, given the universal public desire for accountability. There is a strong belief certain people took decisions which were flawed, faulty or negligent, or even politically motivated or dishonest.

Whatever the reality, the desire for accountability must be met, even though such is often very difficult to obtain. One might well imagine that establishing and managing an inquiry is easy, being simply a matter of bringing a group of people into a room and asking them a lot of hard questions. However, as somebody with long experience of investigating and asking difficult questions, I am aware that it is, in fact, the most difficult thing in the world, not least because certain individuals might, for instance, have left the country, died or simply refused to attend the hearings. Documents might be missing or have been shredded. People might have faulty memories, something to which we are all susceptible. I am sometimes convinced I have left an item on my desk only to discover it in my car. We all have incredibly deficient memories when it comes to all types of experiences. Even with the best will in the world, matters do not progress as smoothly as the public which is rightly angry and anxious for accountability might like.

The Minister and his Department had the unenviable task of finding a way to proceed on this issue. Many have been very critical about the supposed delay in bringing forward proposals, claiming the Government should have rushed in on day one to establish an inquiry. It certainly could have done so, but any resulting inquiry would have had the wrong format, cost too much or gone on too long or not long enough. As the person who became known as the "beef tribunal girl" because I was allegedly responsible for the establishment of that inquiry and the cost thereof, I can speak quite eloquently on the point that inquiries usually end up being other than what they were intended to be. Everybody who demanded a tribunal of inquiry into the beef industry was sincere in that desire but went around it in slightly the wrong way.

As a result of my past experiences, I am probably more cautious than others in these matters. I like to see that people have taken time and consideration, as I am confident the Minister has done in this instance. As he outlined, we now have a strong statutory framework that will guarantee an effective inquiry. We will never, of course, achieve a perfect inquiry. There will inevitably be people who will refuse to answer the questions they are asked or will employ their lawyers to avoid answering those questions. The idea that parliamentarians are not the right people to ask questions is one I refute. There are many Members of the Oireachtas with the capability to do so and can set aside their party hats. Unless we step up to the plate and start to take responsibility by doing this type of work, we will never be able to look the public in the eye or ever again ask people to trust us. We must stand up and say it is our time and we will do this. Those of us who are involved in the inquiry will undoubtedly be under enormous scrutiny and anybody who appears to be partisan in his or her questions and queries will be singled out very quickly. After all, this will all take place in public.

All of that is welcome and this is our moment to take action. Having taken the time to get everything right, we will have a better inquiry. Senator Martin Conway said he would like to see us proceeding as quickly as possible. I look forward to seeing the format of the committee, whether it will be established expressly for this purpose and so on. On a previous occasion I raised with the Minister the work of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions and whether it, given its power of scrutiny in the public service, could or should have a role in this particular inquiry. That committee, of which I am proud to be a member, was set up as part of the Government's reform process and has engaged in some very interesting discussions. It might well have a role to play in this debate.

I welcome the Minister's proposals, while sharing some of the concerns expressed. We would all like the inquiry to be as extensive and powerful as possible, but the reality is that we must also have regard to such issues as cost. We must settle on the format that is the most feasible from the available choices. I am confident the Minister's proposal represents the most feasible and applicable option.