Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is not recorded in the Official Report. It shows the opinion of people at the time, as well as the frustration. It is important that those who ask the questions at this committee are those who are placed with the authority of this House.

I have many concerns as to how we will actually progress a banking inquiry. There are some who do not see the point in this inquiry while many others suspect it will be another fudge by politicians.

There are some who believe that it will be merely an attempt to have a good go at Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, and their decisions.

I have stated already that I believe this inquiry is important. I believe it is far above party politics. However, there are issues on which we have to go into the political sphere because it is Ministers who made these decisions. There were meetings that happened with the then Taoiseach, former Deputy Brian Cowen, and others who were in senior positions with senior bankers where it was not fully revealed what was said at that time, and these issues will have to be dealt with at any banking inquiry.

The success of any inquiry will be measured on the information that it manages to attain, whether from individuals such as bankers, politicians, regulators or officials, but also the documents pertaining to the period of the banking crisis. I revealed in the past that some of these most sensitive documents have gone missing. Deputy Martin and the Taoiseach have had their regular exchanges about documents going missing down the back of the radiators, etc., with Deputy Martin suggesting that has not happened, but it is has now been proved categorically that certain sensitive documents that related to the recapitalisation of Bank of Ireland have gone missing. I refer to a document which was written to the then Minister for Finance, the late Brian Lenihan, at the time by somebody who happened to be an accountant or adviser to the former Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern, in regard to the recapitalisation of Bank of Ireland. That document has gone missing within the Department of Finance. We know that. They owned up to the fact it has gone missing. The copy of that document which was also sent to Bank of Ireland has gone missing within Bank of Ireland. There has been talk about conspiracy theories, etc., but when two sensitive documents go missing in two different institutions that, one expects, do not leave documents lying about, then it fuels those who have questions as to how could this happen and what are the chances of it happening. These issues have to be either dealt with and knocked on the head or dismissed and the inquiry will have to do that.

Recently The Irish Timespublished an article dealing with the recollections of the bankers involved in the run-up to the guarantee which were recorded. I have questions about these recollections. One aspect that was common to those involved is that they all stated that they took minutes in hard copy - indeed, some of them stated that they took digital recordings of the meeting that they attended that fateful night. At the same time, however, there are others in the highest places of society, whether those in the Regulator or politicians, who have selective memories or memory loss when it comes to those areas.

The issues surrounding the compelling of witnesses to attend and what the committee compels in terms of materials will be crucial to the inquiry and it is important that there is no obstruction to the committee's inquiry. For example, there has been a debate raging in this State about the Trichet letter. In response to Ms Martina Anderson MEP of Sinn Féin, the ECB has stated that the Government should not release the Trichet letter to the banking inquiry if it is asked to do so without first seeking the approval of the ECB, and Mr. Trichet has stated that he does not intend attending the committee hearings if he is asked to do so. While Deputy Martin spoke about the Government not being involved, it is important that this is an inquiry on behalf of the State and those partners, such as the ECB, should be fully supporting, and co-operating with, this inquiry.

If we are to reach the full potential of a banking inquiry, then all of the members of that committee will have to leave their party allegiances at the door and become representatives of the Irish people in their questioning, not defensive of the role of their party in the banking crisis. If we want the committee to operate in that fashion, then it needs to be designed in that fashion.

I look forward to working with the other members of the banking inquiry, defining the terms of reference and, hopefully, outlining a process on how we can uncover some of the truths of what went on in the lead-up to the banking crisis, the decisions that were taken and the reasons for those decisions, and the consequences afterwards. It will be hugely challenging. I hope we will not be frustrated in our efforts. It is something the Irish people demand and deserve and, hopefully, we can live up to that challenge.

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