Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

We then met the Governor of the Central Bank and having listened to the Governor, I left that meeting believing everything was hunky dory. However, I saw the shares in our banks dropping in value after both of those meetings and I could not understand what was going on. I wondered if somebody was speculating or endeavouring to take out one of the Irish banks deliberately. I did not know what was going on because those important people, the bank representatives and the Governor of the Central Bank, taken on trust, appeared before an Oireachtas committee and gave assurances of a nature that suggested the legislation we are debating was not necessary. That brings home to me the importance of the independence of the Governor of the Central Bank.

The independence of the Governor, who can appear before an Oireachtas committee and give assurances, is paramount in any democracy. The general practice here has been that the retiring Secretary General of the Department of Finance goes on to become the Governor of the Central Bank. It is time that practice ceased. I am not casting any aspersions——

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