Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The legitimacy of the body politic has been undermined once more in this most recent sordid debacle in this country. The diligence and persistence through relevant questions by Deputy Catherine Murphy, in the interests of democracy and the people, has unearthed and exposed another web of the same old suspects, which are the banks and the big businesses intertwined with the political system. It again begs the question of whether we have learned anything from the previous major banking scandals and the subsequent collapse of the economy. Serious concern and alarm has been raised among the public regarding the huge scale of write-down sanctioned by IBRC with a select group of 40 big businesses and a select group of individuals receiving a combined write-off of their debt of thousands of millions of euro which, it seems, could amount to anything up to €1.2 billion. Yet again the taxpayer is shouldering this back-breaking burden. This is in contrast to what is happening at the other end of the scale where tens of thousands of ordinary householders' mortgages are being sold off to vulture capitalists. These particular funds are being sold off by IBRC. These unfortunate householders have no mortgage protection as they are outside the control of the Central Bank. There is rough justice for some who are trying to keep a roof over their heads, which is in contrast to another soft landing for the elite and the preferential treatment for these people. How will the Taoiseach ensure that this commission of investigation does not become another multi-million euro burden on the taxpayer with no definite end to the investigation?

Will the Government impose a timely deadline for the work's completion?

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