Dan Boyle (Green Party)

I welcome the last point made by Senator Alex White and agree with him that we need several debates on the banking reports. However, since this process has started, there have been questions, in particular from the Opposition side, about whether we would have an investigation and if we had whether it would be done by independent people, and if so whether such reports would be published, and if published whether they would be redacted, and if they were not redacted whether they would contain any criticism of Government policy.

The reality is that this has been an open process and necessary questions have been asked. A template should be put forward as to where we go from here. I am confident the terms of reference, which have yet to be agreed, for a commission of inquiry will also be all-embracing.

I listened with interest to the comments of Michael Somers, the former head of the National Treasury Management Agency. I was concerned about what he said in regard to a prevailing culture in the Department of Finance which was not linked to any political party whereby the Department felt there was a need to second-guess the Central Bank on a regular basis and to present quarterly reports in the most benign way to whatever Government was in place. That is not the way information should be compiled and it is not way the public should be informed about the economic well-being of the country. When we have the debates in this House, they will inform a process that has begun, that is open and that is starting to inspire the necessary public confidence, which has been badly undermined by how we were served by such attitudes in the past.