Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Bill before the House, the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Bill 2011, which is on Committee Stage, is extensive and complex. It deals with the Honohan, Nyberg, Regling and Watson, Moriarty and Mahon tribunal reports. The Government has published the Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill which, once enacted, will provide the framework for a parliamentary inquiry system. The Deputy is aware that the people rejected in a referendum the question they were asked on the holding of inquiries.

The issue of who met who is one that politicians and former politicians should have no problem in addressing when they attend the parliamentary inquiry. It is imperative in the public interest that these matters be teased out and identified and that members of past Governments who were involved in any of the decisions related to this issue be able to attend to give their recollections and accounts, as should the individuals with whom they were associated. We are in a process where there is a trial to be held in the courts which are completely and utterly independent of anything I might say.

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