Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for allowing me to put a question. Before doing so, I acknowledge that the Taoiseach is dealing with a massive agenda and schedule and a huge number of interruptions and unplanned for things that arrive on his desk without warning. I agree that it is a tough position to be in. However, with the country in turmoil, would it not be time better spent by him if he were to make an interjection at Davos and ask for the programme to be put on hold while he brought colleagues' attention to the plight of this small country? It is a country that has been unfairly financially crushed by the losses of a private banking system that occurred because of the actions of boards of banks. These facts are measurable and provable not by any opinion but by a cold looking at the balance sheets of all the licensed deposit-taking banking and building society institutions in this country from 2002 onwards. These figures show us what caused the credit bubble. There cannot be a property bubble and property speculation unless there is credit and money to drive it.

I e-mailed the Taoiseach last Thursday with an analysis of the credit pyramid and where the measurable causality lay. It lies, as I said, with the boards of banks. Every single board member of every bank and building society should be included within the remit of the banking inquiry. That inquiry is not rocket science and will only require people from at home with the right qualifications and experience. We do not need international consultants. The track record has been that all the international consultants and firms have invoiced very stiffly and hard for producing inaccurate reports. In the case of the listing of loans for transfer to NAMA, for example, they got the projected losses 100% wrong. The modelling for the first prudential capital assessment review, PCAR, in March 2010 was 100% wrong. It is a sequence of heavy invoices and poor analysis.

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