Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)

Even if this matter does not come under the auspices of the Department of the Taoiseach, I would like an assurance that such activities are not still going on. The Taoiseach may be familiar with the matter but for the benefit of the House I will explain it briefly. An assistant principal officer in the Department, who is also an economist, continually expressed warnings and reservations about the dangers of a property collapse and, following that, a banking collapse. Those particular warnings fell on deaf ears and were not just discouraged, but dismissed by senior officials above her. She was told not to put those particular views in e-mails because there was a danger they would emerge under the Freedom of Information Act. A pattern is emerging from memos she wrote of there being no room whatsoever for dissent from the prevailing conformist, consensus culture in the Department, particularly when she expressed reservations about the doctrine at the time of a soft landing. She was told that in answering parliamentary questions she was not, under any circumstances, to include stuff which was negative, but to redraft them and put a positive spin on them. Had she been listened to, we would today perhaps not be in the situation that we are.

See this speech in context