Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday the Taoiseach met the leaders of the political parties in the House and promised to produce the heads of a Bill before the resumption of the Dáil in January to deal with the IBRC issue and the investigation by Mr. Justice Cregan into Siteserv and other large transactions involving IBRC. What emerged yesterday was the degree to which the Government had dragged its feet on the issue from the very beginning dating back to parliamentary questions not being replied to properly and responses to freedom of information requests which revealed an awful lot more than had been revealed in replies to parliamentary questions and so forth. The legislation in which we are specifically interested - we offered to facilitate, with the Govenrment, the passage of the legislation prior to the dissolution of the Dáil before the general election - is, first, to amend the Commissions of Investigation Act, in accordance with the request made by Mr. Justice Cregan, particlarly to give him additional powers equivalent to those of a High Court Judge. Will the Taoiseach indicate when that legislaiton will be brought before the Dáil?

I also ask about legislaiton to enable the Minister for Finance to instruct the special liquidator to waive his rights over documentation. That is legislation we would support. Will the Taoiseach indicate if we will see it in January?

I also ask about legislation that was indicated at the meeting last night when the Taoiseach promised we could amend the Companies Act to enable activities at the Irish Stock Exchange to be inquired into without restriction by Mr. Justice Cregan in his inquiry. In essence, other inquiries managed to access bank accounts all over the world. It is not acceptable that we cannot initiate an inquiry within this jurisdiction to get behind activities within a State-owned bank run by the taxpayer on the Irish Stock Exchange and into the activities of the Department of Finance. We need to increase the powers and capacity of the Minister for Finance to instruct the special liquidator to waive any alleged right in regard to documentation pertaining to a State bank to facilitate such an inquiry. Can we see that legislation and will the Taoiseach commit to producing it on the resumption of the Dáil on 13 January?

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