Dan Boyle (Green Party)

The House would be served well by having a debate on the draft terms of reference for the commission of inquiry into the banking crisis. The Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service has received the draft terms of reference. Some Members of this House are members of that committee. A wider debate would help. However, I caution against the belief that all the questions can be answered by the commission and that all the ills can be cured. I am confident the role of the Department of Finance will be investigated. The questions that remain concern how it is to be investigated and how the findings will be acted upon.

I worry slightly that we are seeing a repetition of the debate that accompanied the introduction of the reports that Messrs Regling and Watson and the Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Honohan, were asked to compile. We heard the same arguments about their terms of reference, namely, that they were not wide enough, and about the likelihood of their not revealing anything. I ask people to have faith in the process. Two excellent reports have been released and they will inform how a commission of inquiry will work. I am happy with how the process has worked to date and I am confident it will work itself through.

With regard to Anglo Irish Bank which we must debate on an ongoing basis, people seem to believe there was an approach that would have resulted in zero cost to the State. The fact is that it was licensed and regulated badly by the State and the responsibility has fallen on the State to determine how the cost can be minimised. The alternative cost figure, as outlined at yesterday's meeting of the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service, pertained to an immediate wind-down of the bank, as advocated by Senator Bacik. This would cost the State €40 billion.