This Government in its previous guises killed off the notion of inquiry by parliamentary committee. In the US, a congressional inquiry into the reasons for the banking failure in that country was established within days. After Abbeylara, the Government contrived to kill off inquiry by committee, despite the success of the DIRT inquiry in retrieving €1 billion for the Exchequer and making recommendations that produced our modern and efficient Revenue Commissioners. Neither senior public servants nor the Government wanted to allow inquiries by parliamentary committee.

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