Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Cowen, you state that throughout your time as Minister for Finance very few questions were asked by Members of the Oireachtas about banking issues and during the time under consideration, of course, bank lending was growing very rapidly - perhaps 30% per annum - house prices were careering ahead and personal borrowing was also rising rapidly. In your opinion, why was there so little scrutiny among the Oireachtas ... or many in the Oireachtas on these issues?