Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the debate this evening. It is important to state what is involved and what the Government is setting out as outlined in the amendment to the motion before the House because it has been lost in the flurry of activity in recent days and the wish to report not what is happening but one's individual bias. I am sure it has been stated several times that we will have a report produced by the Governor of the Central Bank and an international expert or experts on the recent banking crisis and both will include in their terms of reference the national economic environment. This will take into account the overall fiscal and policy positions of the Government and the overall national finances and the macroeconomic environment of the country. This is specifically stated in the amendment tabled by the Minister for Finance.

The Governor of the Central Bank and the international expert will receive a briefing from the Oireachtas on its priorities prior to commencing their investigations and they will then produce a short report. I presume that briefing will come from the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service. When the short report has been completed and the key issues to be dealt with are known, the Government will bring forward terms of reference to establish a statutory commission of inquiry. That will commence very promptly thereafter with a view to producing a very short report which will be returned to the Oireachtas for full debate and elaboration and enhancement through the Committee on Finance and the Public Service. I do not know whether the work will be done by the joint or select committee. I would prefer to see Senators included in the process. I notice the motion tabled by Deputy Joan Burton proposed that the work be carried out by Members of Dáil Éireann. She seems to be specifically excluding Senators from any role in the process.

When the commission of inquiry is established, which is a few months away, I suggest that the Government is very careful when choosing who to chair and lead it. It will be an investigation and I would like it to be chaired by somebody with particular expertise in banking or economics, a forensic accountant or a retired Garda assistant commissioner with the appropriate legal support. I would not like to see it being automatically headed by a barrister or a judge from the Four Courts. The reason I state this is that many tribunals headed by members of the legal profession get more involved in the legal process of how they go about the work rather than the job at hand. It would be far better if a different approach was taken to the appointment on this occasion.

The process has been criticised because there will be an investigation prior to its return to an Oireachtas committee. However, I remind Members of the House that this is precisely what happens week in week out at the Committee of Public Accounts. The Committee of Public Accounts carries out a detailed investigation every Thursday, cross-examines witnesses and re-examines them, all based on an initial report produced by the Comptroller and Auditor General. In September 2010, the Comptroller and Auditor General will produce a report on the activities of all agencies and Departments under his remit in 2009. Towards the end of 2010, when the report is fully assessed and laid before the House, the Committee of Public Accounts will carry out a detailed examination. Nobody in their right mind would suggest that Members of the Oireachtas should carry out the audits of the Departments. It is right that a report be produced by the experts, so that the Oireachtas can examine it in further detail.

Deputy Burton made a case personally by her own actions and by demonstrating her own bias. She has drawn firm conclusions on what she would like to see as the outcome of this. She had demonstrated that Members of the Oireachtas would not be free from bias, would not be neutral, and therefore would not be capable of carrying out such an inquiry. It is important that Members from the Government side and from the Opposition do not carry out this kind of work on that particular occasion.

There has been a backhanded criticism of Professor Patrick Honohan suggesting that it is unfair to ask him to do this job. If Deputies think that he does not have the gumption to examine the Financial Regulator's office and the Central Bank, then we are damning the man with faint praise.

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