Shane Ross (Independent)

Yesterday, when the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, spoke to the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service, he made a welcome concession on the banking inquiry. In response to a Labour Party amendment he said he would allow the inquiry to move beyond the September deadline, an issue that had been the source of legitimate contention in all parties for a long time. I worry, however, that if the inquiry lasts for only another month, it will not go far enough. The concession will be an empty gesture if the inquiry is not allowed to examine what has been happening in the banks up to this day. Most Members will be aware that only the other day it suddenly emerged that the top bankers had been lying to NAMA. There is now the extraordinary situation where NAMA which had been projected to make billions of euro will now almost certainly make losses-----