Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

The spectre of Abbeylara has hung over this House for some time, predating my membership. This Bill represents an honest approach to dealing with the legalities surrounding that judgment, which would put the issue to bed once and for all in order that the legislative functions we have relative to the Executive can be dealt with in a meaningful way. It is about time - I say this as somebody who entered the Dáil for the first time in 2007 - this issue was dealt with in a substantive way.

I wish to outline some of the principal features of the Bill. It is worth reading these into the record because they are so clear it is difficult to fathom why they would not be accepted by the Government. The purpose of the Bill is to address a pressing need to restore the status of the Oireachtas vis-À-vis the Executive. In particular, we need to address the view that the Supreme Court decision in the Abbeylara case has put an end to any possibility of inquiry by an Oireachtas committee. We reject the view that, short of constitutional change, there is now no lawful means of holding a parliamentary inquiry. We do accept, however, that legislation is required to address the defects identified by the court in that case, hence this Bill.

I stand before you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, as a member of the Joint Committee on Economic and Regulatory Affairs, which has dealt with a number of bankers in recent years. We have had the spectre of Abbeylara hanging over us in that every time a witness comes before the committee we need to be careful about how we question him or her. The issue of compellability also loomed large over the proceedings, as Members will see if they check the records of the committee from the past number of years.

Let us fast forward to the announcement by the Minister for Finance that a private inquiry would be held. It beggars belief that the Government would hide behind a Supreme Court judgment as an excuse for not holding such an inquiry in public. That is an affront to any Member of this House who puts his or her name on a ballot paper and seeks to represent the people. It allows for the possibility that people who may have been responsible for undermining our banking system and our very economic structures will hide behind such a judgment as an attempt not to answer questions in a public forum - what I would call the tribune of the people. The people demand that the issue be dealt with in a meaningful way, and this Bill does so. I ask that the Government seriously consider accepting the Bill.

It is right and proper - particularly from the point of view of the banking crisis - that Ministers for Finance, their officials, and various actors within the banking sector should be subjected to rigorous questioning in the public interest and within the public domain on the basis that the taxpayer has bailed out some of those very institutions, which have received a guarantee under the auspices of the State. It is only right that we have such proceedings in public. Any excuse that might be put forward by Ministers that they are restricted in doing so by virtue of a Supreme Court decision will be dealt with by this legislation, which will prevent any excuse for not having such public inquiries.

It is not right or proper that somebody who is a member of the Joint Committee on Economic Regulatory Affairs, which has a particular remit in respect of the banking sector, would need to glean his information from the business pages of the Sunday papers. When I read The Sunday Times or The Sunday Tribune on any Sunday, the amount of leakage on issues surrounding Anglo Irish Bank tells me that the Government is selectively talking to journalists. That subverts the very role of a committee such as the Joint Committee on Economic Regulatory Affairs - or any other committee of the House. The Government, if it adopts a historical perspective - the Minister of State will be conscious of this - will admit that it must be seen by the people to be doing right, and the only way it can do this is by conducting its affairs in a public fashion.

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