Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I echo the comments of Senator Cummins regarding the assistance that Members of this House and of the Committee on Procedure and Privileges have received from a number of sources, not least opinions given on pro bono basis with regard to the terms of reference of the banking inquiry. The work of Deputy Ciaran Lynch, as Chairman, will hopefully bring the inquiry to a successful conclusion in an extremely tight timeframe thanks to his determination and willpower. I also like thank the Members of this House who are serving on the committee and who are giving an enormous amount of their time to it - Senators O'Keeffe, MacSharry, Barrett and Michael D'Arcy.
As has been said, this is a technical Bill. We are here because we are inquiring into the reasons for Ireland's systemic banking crisis. The inquiry will include an analysis of the political, economic, social, cultural, financial and behavioural factors and policies which impacted on or contributed to the crisis and the preventative reforms implemented in the wake of that crisis. There is no party in this House that does not want the inquiry to have the maximum powers possible to allow it to reach a satisfactory conclusion. This is a technical Bill amending legislation in place since 1942 which will allow employees, current and former, of the Central Bank to provide information to the committee on a confidential basis. The information will not be put into the public domain but it will allow the inquiry to examine fully every aspect of banking that requires examination. I thank the Minister for expediting this legislation.
In his speech the Minister mentioned the level of resources that his Department has been putting into ensuring that it will, as a Department, make a full disclosure to the committee. I welcome that and would argue that the disclosure should be generous. I know, from my work as a lawyer, that disclosure can sometimes not be as generous as it ought to be. Significant criticism has been levelled at the Department of Finance and I hope that the same spirit of disclosure that is being applied to the Central Bank will also be forthcoming from the Department. I welcome the extra resources committed by the Department in that regard.
I welcome the fact that the inquiry committee, to date, has generated an exceptional level of engagement from witnesses and the public. There is now a much better understanding of the issues involved, even at this early stage in the process. The Minister mentioned that this legislation will allow all employees of the Central Bank, including the Governor, I assume, to make full disclosures. Can we expect further disclosures from the Governor, whose disclosures to date have proved to be quite interesting?
While it is not directly related to this Bill, I welcome the announcement within the last hour that Mr. Jean-Claude Trichet may be willing or able to assist the inquiry by some means other than appearing before the committee. The possibility of him appearing before a sub-committee of the Irish Members of the European Parliament has been mentioned. Personally, I would prefer to see the man in Ireland, facilitating the inquiry to the fullest possible extent, but if that is not possible, I hope that all measures that can possibly be taken are taken.
This has been a very dark time for the Irish people although it is a time that we are working through. I think I am right in saying that our level of growth last year was well above the European average. It was very close to 4% and may be revised upwards. Our employment figures are exceptional and at the end of the day, the best answer to poverty is getting people back to work. We are, as an economy, performing well ahead of the European norm. Today's announcement from the ECB that €60 billion per month will be available for quantitative easing should improve the lending capacity of banks in Ireland. Mr. Draghi suggested at a press conference that some European banks could use this money to repay some more expensive debt or to reduce their existing liabilities. What we are all hoping for is a lift for the European economy and, in particular, an improvement in the lending capacity of our own banks.
It has been a very tough time for the Irish people. Ms Christine Lagarde came in for a certain amount of criticism for comments which some deemed to be patronising to the Irish people when she said that it was the Irish people who have delivered Ireland out of the crisis.

However, that is the truth of the matter and the Irish people deserve the truth. This minor technical legislation is and must be part of that truth. Let us hope there are further truths that will be delivered in time and if further legislation is required, the Minister should not hesitate to bring it to the House.