Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

I support the calls by a number of Senators with regard to having an inquiry into the banking sector and what has happened to our economy and finances. I congratulate Mr. Patrick Honohan on the clarity of the statement he made to the joint committee yesterday. I want to raise one aspect of what he said, namely, that he was concerned that confidentiality was being overused and that "the regulatory staff can end up appearing passive and defensive when called to speak on specific issues in public". The public have many questions about what happened and why it happened. There is huge concern and people question whether things have really changed or are still the same. We need to have the inquiry to understand fully what happened and to convince the public in an open and transparent way, so they can see things really are changing, which is critical.

I ask the Leader to come to the House tomorrow with proposals in this regard, to outline what role he and the Government believe the Seanad can play in regard to this inquiry and to outline Government on it at this time. Patrick Honohan yesterday seemed to assume there would be an inquiry. Perhaps the Leader could clarify that.