Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

It is sufficiently important that this body has all-party consensus. The former Swedish Minister for Finance told an all-party committee of the House that such a consensus is vital. It is essential to have all-party understanding, willingness to confront the problem, proper scrutiny and not to pay over the price.

The Minister is letting himself and his officials down in the longer term. He entered this debate with the sort of weasel words that I would expect from Ministers who do not have the same breadth of understanding and experience he has.

He also stated the proper conduit for reporting to the Oireachtas should be himself, the Minister for Fiance. It is outrageous he thinks he can cramp the Oireachtas back on to the narrow ground which he and previous Governments have sought.

The one lesson from this crisis is that we need a stronger Oireachtas that is willing to hold Ministers to account and force them to take responsibility. It is important that those in charge of €54 billion know there will be people looking over their shoulders, others with real power to hold them accountable.

Members on the opposite side, with the exception of Deputy Gogarty, have been at one on this. I cannot understand why the Minister is resisting that consensus which has been built. We cannot go back to this blindman's bluff as the way in which the Oireachtas holds the agencies like this to account, stumbling around in the dark in the hope we might crash up against something that exposed a weakness in the way business was being conducted. We need instead a strong committee to hold the body to account.

There are vital issues at this point such as the codes of conduct for credit, the way in which NAMA can enforce change and the way in which property is dealt with so that there are no sweetheart deals. These are matters which require tough oversight. The Minister has let the Oireachtas down in not being willing to give a clearer commitment that we will have a committee with a statutory base and expertise to back it up. It must also have powers including those for appointment of boards and subsequent boards. There is no reason the Oireachtas should be excluded from a role in the appointment of boards. I believe that is true in the case of trivial boards and-----

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