Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 70: To ask the Minister for Finance his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding the public inquiry into the failure the Irish Banking system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23099/11]

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 73: To ask the Minister for Finance his views on holding a public inquiry into the failure of the Irish banking system (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23171/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 70 and 73 together. The Deputy will recall that the previous Government in January 2010 set out a framework to the Oireachtas for investigation into the banking sector. This investigation consisted of two distinct stages. The preliminary reports published in June 2010 by the Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Patrick Honohan, on The Irish Banking Crisis – Regulatory and Financial Stability Policy 2003-2008 and the report by Messrs. Regling and Watson, Preliminary report on the sources of Ireland's banking crisis, formed the first stage of this investigation.

The second stage consisted of a statutory Commission of Investigation. The establishment of a Commission of Investigation into the Banking Sector in Ireland was approved by Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann on 8 July 2010 and an Order formally establishing the Commission was made by the previous Government on 21 September 2010. Mr Peter Nyberg was appointed as sole member of the Commission of Investigation on 22 September 2010.

The Commission's terms of reference which were for the period 2003 to 5 January 2009 were in summary to examine:

a) the main causes of the serious failure, within each of the covered institutions;

b) the main reasons why Anglo Irish Bank Corporation and Irish Nationwide Building Society adopted and implemented business models, strategies and lending practices, which resulted in those institutions experiencing severe financial distress;

c) whether external auditors of the covered institutions commented in their audit reports or other communications to the institutions concerned on the failures I referred to;

d) the main causes for the failures, in the performance of the statutory roles and responsibilities of the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland and the relevance in that regard of any advices or directions given by the Department of Finance.

The Commission submitted its report Misjudging Risk: Causes of the Systemic Banking Crisis in Ireland, Report of the Commission of Investigation into the Banking Sector in Ireland to me on 22 March 2011, in keeping with its remit to complete its Report within 6 months.

As I said in my statement to Dáil Éireann on 20 April 2011, following the publication of the Commission's report, the report has identified the main causes of the banking crisis. Together with the two preliminary reports they set out all the interlinked elements that, each in their own way, contributed to the financial crisis that we found ourselves in since 2007. I also set out a number of steps the government is taking to implement the report's recommendations.