Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

Fine Gael tabled a private Member's motion on the draft terms of reference of the commission of inquiry before its members had an opportunity to hear from the authors of the two reports and before the committee dealing with the matter had an opportunity to consider the terms of reference. The Government made it clear in its decision on these reports that it welcomes the views of the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service regarding the terms of reference. I look forward to that discussion. I find it surprising the discussion has been pre-empted by the tabling of a motion. The Government submitted the draft terms of reference to the committee, drawn from the report of Mr. Watson, Herr Regling and Professor Honohan and carefully refined by the Attorney General.

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