Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is a last-ditch attempt to salvage a commission of investigation the Government never wanted. It remains open to debate whether it was by design or by flaw that the commission was so badly set up in the first instance. Nevertheless, I hope that what comes out of the Bill and the new terms of reference is a commission of investigation that can do its job.

IBRC is a zombie institution comprising the completely discredited Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide. These banks have cost the Irish people €64 billion and became an excuse for Fianna Fáil and then Fine Gael-Labour Party Government to undermine the rights and hollow out the public services of the Irish people. These banks were the worst of the worst and represent a black stain on Ireland's reputation. They are a reminder of how the political class failed us. We should remember that, in February 2013, a decision was taken in the middle of the night to liquidate IBRC. The debt was not wound down, of course, and our children will be paying it off for a long time to come. Indeed, my son, who is 14, will be 54 by the time the burden of debt is lifted. The cost of servicing the debt is €7 billion a year. That is €7 billion that could be spent on health, education, job creation and infrastructure.

The biggest issue with the Bill is that anything that happened after the liquidation date is still out of bounds, despite the many questions that have been raised about what has happened since. Despite involving billions of euro belonging to Irish citizens, the process is still completely opaque. When Deputy Pearse Doherty started to ask the Minister for Finance about write-downs at IBRC, the latter did not take it very seriously. Indeed, it took a great deal of work and cajoling to get him to accept that there was a problem in the first instance. Then the Taoiseach appointed the Comptroller and Auditor General to examine the issue. Eventually, we got a commission of investigation. As we know now, it was set up with little thought regarding the legal obstacles involved. The interim report last November highlighted the biggest issues, including confidentiality and problems relating to the timeline. As such, we are here again trying to put Humpty Dumpty together. It is interesting that Fianna Fáil is supporting the Bill but not the NAMA investigation. At least, that was last week's position. I am not sure what is the position this week.

The country cannot stand still because the lawyers of one of the bank's clients are of the view that he has the power to stop any investigation he chooses. There is always a danger of litigation but that is not a valid reason to stop looking out for the public interest. The people remember that these allegations were sparked by certain individuals getting away with sweetheart deals. They believed what they heard because it made sense. They know there are small cliques with enormous power operating in the country and that these play by their own rules. The corruption and cronyism did not, of course, end with Tom Gilmartin's experiences with Fianna Fáil. This Government continued to preside over the very corruption, cronyism and greed which are the root cause of our inability to provide for our citizens. These are not victimless crimes. Very few politicians, bankers or businessmen will ever go to prison no matter what they do, but the public insists that we do our best to find the truth.

Nobody was surprised that the special liquidators kicked up a fuss when the commission came sniffing around. KPMG is the wrong company for this job because it is part of the protected elite and has so many fingers in pies in the State that it could never carry out the work effectively. One of the problems here is that the previous Government appointed the fox to guard the henhouse. KPMG was the auditor at Irish Nationwide, which is one chunk of IBRC. It has an interest in the liquidation that goes beyond what it is paid to do. Its interest is not that of the Irish people. The new power given to the Minister to direct the special liquidators is at the core of the Bill and is long overdue. The Minister should not be hesitant to use the powers as necessary.

The terms of reference encompass a modular approach. The Siteserv transaction must be the focus of the first module. It is the reason we have a commission of investigation and is where the public interest is most focused. After that, it is clearly logical to home in on the largest transactions.The notion of a more general area of investigation being added to the first module should not distract from the Siteserv issue. The extension of the deadline for report will be moved but it is important to send a clear signal that only in exceptional circumstances will a further extension be considered. If there are discrete modules, then interim reports should be published as they are completed. Any increase in the budget must be justified and implemented tightly.

We support the Bill in the hope it can salvage the mess that was caused by Fianna Fáil and made by Fine Gael. It only considers half the picture because it stops at the point of liquidation. The most important issue now is to get to the truth about Siteserv. This is where our focus and that of the commission should be firmly fixed. Members should imagine all the money that could be saved if only those who consider themselves to be untouchable told the truth. We must make them tell the truth and I hope the Bill helps with that process.