Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With the greatest respect to the leader of the Opposition, Senator Darragh O'Brien, I would say that we are ad idem on the banking inquiry. Everybody wants to get to the unvarnished truth and nothing must be excluded. As we all agree, no one in these Houses would wish to prejudice cases that are in the pipeline. I do not believe representatives of that bank were present on the night of the bank guarantee - it was primarily the two pillar banks. If it is to proceed prior to those cases being concluded, obviously it cannot deal with them. However, nothing is agreed yet and this is only a commencement order. With respect, we do not need a debate on what is before us today on the Order Paper which is just a commencement order.

No one wishes that anything be excluded and of course we all want to get at the full truth. To hell with spin - excuse my French. We do not need to go down that road. We can debate this fully when we know more, but there is no final decision at the moment and we are somewhat in the dark. I would urge caution and we should whisht for a while. We can proceed as soon as we know and then have the debate.