Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On at least half a dozen occasions since this Dáil was convened, the Government has announced the imminent start of an Oireachtas inquiry into the banking crisis. Now that such an inquiry will finally happen, we need to be very clear about what the inquiry will seek to achieve. My party welcomes an inquiry and has said from the first day of this Dáil that we believe it has an important role to play in dealing with the aftermath of the effective collapse of our financial system and its damaging long-term impact. This does not mean we will support efforts to politicise the inquiry, to narrow its focus and to indulge in a highly selective approach to a serious national issue. We have had elements of that already in the Tánaiste's contribution and in some of his remarks which prejudge this inquiry. It has been our stated preference in the interest of openness, fairness and transparency to have an independent Leveson-type inquiry. If this Oireachtas inquiry is to serve any positive purpose, if it is to answer a clear public demand, and if it is to reflect well on the Houses, it must mark an end to the cynical and partisan approach which has dominated how the Government has approached it.

In the six years since the crisis emerged as a public issue, there have been countless debates about it. These debates have added little to public understanding of the crisis because they have been driven by people putting politics first. Public disillusionment with politics has been actively fed by a response which has mainly been about trying to exploit the crisis rather than to understand it. I refer to the many debates in this House on the banking crisis since September 2008. They record Deputy after Deputy lining up to say that they knew exactly who is to blame.

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