Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The public is entitled to know what the bankers, developers and other big players were up to in that period. It is material. If the information being sought from the Central Bank in particular is not revealed, it will look like those people are being protected under the 1942 Act for some reason. An additional question arises in this context. Is it really correct that politicians should be carrying out this inquiry? Given that politicians are answerable to the public, should they be compromised by being asked to keep secrets? Our job and the job of those who are part of the banking inquiry is to expose what happened to the public in the most open possible way. If politicians are asked to be part of that conspiracy, that will do a disfavour to the body politic as well. I suppose everybody in this House knows that politicians are not the most discreet with confidential information.

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