Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. The Minister for Social Protection referred to the Government being specifically excluded from examination in this report by the narrow terms of reference drafted by the previous Government. She knows that is not the case; she knows that the former Minister and former Taoiseach were interviewed for it. The terms of reference specifically stated the Regling and Watson report and the Honohan report were to be taken into account in the work for the Nyberg repot; both commented on Government actions during the crisis.

I welcome the fact that this report was completed within six months. Normally we set up tribunals of inquiry that we expect to report quickly but which are still ongoing years later. There is a trade-off between carrying out examinations in private, the public not being able to see interviews and coming up with a quick report and having an open tribunal continuing for as long as most people can remember, as has happened in Dublin Castle. It is important to conclude inquiries quickly rather than after ten or 15 years.

This report is light. I use that word because there is a reference to it in the preconditions for the crisis in the executive summary, in which the author states international developments precipitated the crisis, although it did not create them in its own right. I recall the entry of the euro on 1 January 2002. That had a significant role because we were used to mortgage rates of between 12% and 17% and suddenly we had low European interest rates of 3%. People could now borrow a far greater number of multiples of their annual income to pay for a house because the interest rate was much lower. This led to them being able to take out much bigger mortgages which, in turn, pushed up the price of houses and property. The availability of credit resulting from our being in the eurozone and having easy access to substantial credit on international markets was not the case when we had the punt was a significant factor. Borrowing in a different currency attracted risk, but that was removed the day we entered the eurozone.

Mr. Nyberg, being a good European, has been too light on his European colleagues; he left the role of the European Union out of this. The problem was that the day we joined the euro - I forget if it was following the Maastricht or Amsterdam treaty referendum - everyone bought into the currency because it was in our pocket straightaway.

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