Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Like my colleague, Senator Mullen, I oppose this inquiry. I do not know what we hope to achieve by carrying it out. I believe it is the wrong time, as many of the witnesses brought before it will suffer from selective amnesia and Members of the Oireachtas are the wrong people to carry out the inquiry. It should have been carried out some time ago by the State agencies best qualified to do so.

All of the main actors involved in the collapse of the country's economy have taken to the hills - they have gone away on their yachts with their pensions - and are living the good life while the rest of us are left struggling to survive and rebuild. Like many of my colleagues and friends, I ask why did we not see the same response to the collapse of our economy as we saw in the United States? Why did nobody go into the plush offices of these bankers and take them out in handcuffs? Why has nobody been charged or sent to jail?

I believe this inquiry may very well finish up as a publicity grandstanding affair for those who want to use it in that way. I am not for one moment questioning people's abilities but we are politicians and rely on publicity for our oxygen, as my colleague has said. I question the suggestion that the public wants to know what happened. The public wanted to know back in 2008 but I am not so sure it has an interest any more because people know that this inquiry will not lead to anybody being charged with anything. What do we really hope to achieve? I suspect this will become part of pre-election PR to allow one political party place the blame on the shoulders of another. I am opposed to it and believe the time of the Oireachtas could be spent doing better things than this.