Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----that she might do well to reflect on the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. There were a few foolish virgins missing on that occasion and it was not my fault or that of the committee, and it is a disgrace to say there was an ambush.

I support the amendment to the Order of Business. This attempt to add Senators to the proposed banking inquiry is political engineering of a most cynical nature. It is appalling. What the Taoiseach stated in the other House the other day to the effect that he must have a Government majority, is a disgrace.

If this is what will happen, then the terms of reference will be suitably engineered along Government lines and also the result of the banking inquiry will have a political dimension before it starts, not so much to get to the truth of what happened but to have an outcome that will have the desired political twist as far as the Government is concerned. As I stated here previously, due to what has happened so far through no fault of some on this side of the House, there is structural damage done to the banking inquiry before it starts. How can the public at large have faith in this inquiry when at the outset there is hullabaloo with an attempt by the Government parties to ensure they have a political majority?

That is an unnecessary feature of the banking inquiry. In the previous Administration, the Government parties, which had a minority here in this House, were able to get legislation through and do their business successfully on almost all occasions. It is a disgrace what the Government is doing with this political engineering. It is cynical. It goes against the thrust of what the Taoiseach and the Government stated when they came into office three and a half years ago. It is an appalling turnaround and we are going back to the bad old days again.