Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I fully support the Minister's view and his decision to set up the establishment of this commission of investigation. There are many things that have quite rightly been raised by Deputy Catherine Murphy over the past couple of months. We need to learn lessons from the difficulty she experienced in getting the information she was seeking. For example, we need to change the practices that apply to the way Departments respond to parliamentary questions. I refer not only to questions tabled by Opposition Deputies, but to questions tabled by everybody in this House. That is one lesson we can learn.

We need to look at the concerns that have been raised by various Members of this House, all of which have been counter-claimed or denied. We have been told that these concerns are materially untrue or categorically untrue. There are so many things that we do not know we do not know at this stage. There is a clear need to restore public trust in the liquidation of IBRC, which the Minister sought fit to do on 7 February 2013 when he introduced legislation to ensure there was nothing but transparency with regard to the liquidation and closing down of IBRC, as denoted in the relevant Act. Now we need to look at the transactions that came beforehand. Currently, we genuinely have a situation where a source can claim that somebody has two heads, this is confirmed by an insider and suddenly it is the truth.

I represent ordinary people in County Meath. I do not represent the rich people, the wealthy farmers or the people who live in expensive houses. I am lucky enough to represent everybody who lives in Meath East. I am quite sure that there are not that many billionaires living in my constituency. Maybe there are, and I just do not know who they are. We need to be seen as a Government that is representative of everybody in this country. We need to rule and make the laws of the land without fear or favour to any individuals or organisations in this country. I fully support the robust criteria that have been set out in the commission of investigation's terms of reference, which cover transparency in the transactions arising from the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide, the transactions that occurred as part of the sale of loan books and IBRC's interactions with its clients, the Department of Finance, the former Minister, Brian Lenihan, and the current Minister, Deputy Noonan.

I think we have a situation where a political football is being used. It is almost as if there is glee on the part of some Opposition Deputies from Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin. They seem to hope that if they throw enough mud around, some of it will stick on Fine Gael. In my view, Deputy Catherine Murphy is the only person from an Opposition perspective who has acted with integrity in this process over recent months. She is to be commended and supported for that. She is one of the most reasonable people I have had the pleasure of dealing with since I came into this House. I really want to wish her well in her investigations and her pursuit of this matter.

I fully support the establishment of this commission of investigation, which will be fully resourced and supported in terms of the staff and the judge when he or she is appointed so that it can conduct this review in a timely manner. We will have the documentation and the full review by 31 December next. I will explain why this is so significant to me. I know what I know, but I absolutely do not know what we do not know. People in every town and village in this country have suffered immeasurably over the past seven or eight years because of the collapse of the economy and the ensuing decisions that had to be made by the former Minister, Brian Lenihan, and the current Minister as part of the attempt to ensure the economy recovered for the rest of the people of this country. Those who have suffered silently for the most part at the hands of those decisions want to know that the rules of engagement of the Government and of statutory bodies are the same for them as they are for the people in this country who are perceived to be very wealthy. That is what the investigation will uncover. This will ensure the Government governs for everybody and not for our people and our "pawns", as Deputy Sean Fleming suggested in the most despicable way. He should be ashamed of the disrespect he has shown to this House. I fully support the Minister in his decisions. I look forward to a speedy conclusion of this review so that we can all move on.

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