Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

What people will ask is who has been in government for the past six years and who was in government in the years before that period when all of this was happening. Where does the buck stop? Who was in charge of the asylum? Did the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement have proper resources available to it? What were the checks and balances when it was set up? Accountability was pushed from one source to the other. Nobody is paying, except citizens. It is not an election we need but a revolution.

I welcome the establishment of the commission of investigation and the fact that it received all party support in the Dáil last night. I also welcome the U-turn made by the Fianna Fail Party which only a year ago opposed its establishment because in its opinion it might impede a criminal investigation. The need for such a commission was as obvious 11 months ago as it is today. The decisions of NAMA have cost every citizen dearly; in the region of €250 billion will be lost by this State agency. A large number of citizen now realise the losses incurred were even larger owing to malpractice and inappropriate interference. I suggest it was public pressure and outrange that contributed to Fianna Fail's charge of heart on the matter. The work of the commission will impact on the State's ability to fight white collar crime. There is a need for legislation to be enacted quickly to implement any recommendation that might arise from the work of the commission.

This morning I addressed the anger felt by citizens as the trial judge had directed that one of those most closely associated with the collapse of Anglo Irish Bank should be found not guilty. Every citizen paid €6,000 to bail out Anglo Irish Bank. As a result of this and Government cutbacks, there are many people who are unable to get out of the bed in the morning, as the Taoiseach-in-waiting said. There are people who have lost home help hours or were forced out of work because they had to care for sick relatives. There is an absolute mismatch between the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Leo Varadkar's public showboating in front of advertisements which target those who cheat the benefit system and the derisory resources given to bodies which combat corporate and company crime. The Minister claims there is a serious divide in Irish society between those who want to work and those who want everything for free. Yesterday it was laid bare that the most dangerous divide was actually between those who thought it was okay to defraud the State and its citizens of billions of euroi and those who wanted to see it stopped. The commission of investigation should be seen as a test case on whether the State has learned anything from the collapse yesterday of the trial. In saying this I am not assuming that anybody is guilty or not guilty.

I acknowledge the work of the Committee of Public Accounts. We, in Sinn Féin, always thought a commission of inquiry would be the best way of arriving at the truth. While the Committee of Public Accounts gathered and examined evidence, it did not have a mandate to attribute blame or to comment on the actions of certain State employees and politicians. I welcome the terms of reference, especially the fact that the sale of Project Eagle will be examined in the first module. I understand the role of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, and his Department in the disposal of the Northern portfolio will also be examined. We are clear that there was an inappropriate eve of sale meeting with the Minister for Finance before the sale of the Northern portfolio. I want to see the commission's work go unhindered and proceed as fast as possible. We have had many commissions of inquiry, yet we have a very poor record of getting to the root of problems. Speed is important. If the commission finds that there was inappropriate behaviour in sales, there will be a need for immediate action to be taken. The first module is due to take three months to complete and the first report will be issued in June 2018. As the investigation is ongoing, NAMA will be free to sell assets in whatever way it sees fit. There is no guarantee, therefore, that the dreadful mistakes made in the sale of Project Eagle which resulted in the loss of €191 million, as confirmed by the Comptroller and Auditor General, will not be made again while the very is carrying out its work.

I take the opportunity to thank the Comptroller and Auditor General for his relentless pursuit of this issue, without which we might not be where we are today. Sinn Féin wants to see an immediate halt to NAMA sales. NAMA continues to hold assets both in bricks and mortar and land banks. Since the first motion to establish a commission of investigation was defeated, we have had the sale of Project Jewel. In many ways, we have no option but to have a commission of investigation. Any citizen who reads the newspapers or follows proceedings in the Houses of the Oireachtas knows that something is rotten. Despite repeated statements that the Minister for Finance did not instruct NAMA to effect a faster sale of assets, there has been no explanation of how such huge losses were incurred. Anybody with any civic responsibility would agree that this question cannot remain unanswered. The commission is long overdue and it is welcome that it will start its work immediately.