Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

It has dawned on many citizens now that the Oireachtas inquiry into banking has about as much chance of getting to the bottom of what happened in the banking sector as Billy Bunter would have in finding out who robbed the school tuckshop. It is a joke. Instead, maybe the Taoiseach will focus on a different inquiry, one which might have the chance of actually succeeding, if he had the will to set it up in an appropriate manner.

I refer to the statement yesterday by the broad cross-section of academics, NGOs and public figures which presented a cast-iron case for why a public inquiry into the policing of the Corrib gas project should be held. Everybody accepts that our mechanisms for Garda accountability have been found not to be fit for purpose. Is it not logical against this backdrop of one of the longest running police operations in the history of the State, in an area deemed to be the most heavily policed in Europe, coincidentally in the Taoiseach's backyard, where more than 100 complaints to GSOC have been made, that the Taoiseach would agree this obviously should be the subject of an independent inquiry? Such an inquiry has been sought for a long time by national and international human rights campaigners such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the UN special rapporteur for human rights defenders. The campaign yesterday outlined 22 reasons such an inquiry needs to take place, ranging from the lack of legality of arresting people without charge, protesters being hospitalised, phone tapping-----

See this speech in context