A Public Inquiry

16th December, 2009

central bank

This morning, on the Order of Business, I supported the request from the new Governor of the Irish Central Bank for a public inquiry into the banking crisis. The parrallel the new Governor made to this request was the 9/11 commission in the US. My colleague Senator Fitzgerald pointed out that a public inquiry is taking place into the causes of the second Gulf War. Thank God, we weren’t involved in a war but the effect of the banking crisis has been to cause a national emergency.

This request was supported by Senators Ross, White, Buttimer,McFadden, Coffey and others.

Think it’s worth emphasising that those countries who learnt from the last round of banking crises were better protected in this set of bank disasters. Look at what happened in Canada, Sweden, Norway and so on. This isn’t just about allocating responsibility, it’s about making sure this never happens again.