Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on this debate. Fianna Fáil called for a commission of investigation three or four weeks ago, but every Member on the Government side voted that down. Such a major and dramatic U-turn by the Government is welcome, but there is a big "however" in that this is only a small step. The Government is facing the right direction, but it is not willing to travel that way. It must move in the direction called for by us.

Fianna Fáil made three requests of the Minister in recent days regarding issues that we wanted incorporated in the terms of reference, but none was. We want the role of the Department of Finance and its Minister in respect of their dealings with IBRC included in the terms of reference. Instead, those terms state: "in relation to each transaction under investigation, whether the Minister for Finance or his Department was kept informed where appropriate in respect of the transactions concerned, and whether he, or officials on his behalf, took appropriate steps in respect of the information provided to them." This relates to specific transactions. We want an examination of the-----

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