Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I support the concept of a banking inquiry even if the only lesson history teaches us is that it teaches us nothing.

The responsibility lies with the Government. We can talk about the reform of the banking system but we must reform our own political system. We cannot have Ministers going around the country cutting ribbons, laying cement blocks, cutting tapes and putting on hard hats while the country is going down the Swanee. There is only a limited amount we can do to reform the banking system but we can reform the political system and that is what we need to do first, to get our own house in order. If we do that then we will be able to carry out the changes required in other institutions.

See this speech in context