Banking inquiry to decide on Drumm tomorrow

The Oireachtas banking inquiry will decide tomorrow whether former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm will be allowed give evidence by video link from the United States.

Inquiry chairman Ciarán Lynch said the 11 members of the committee will have the opportunity to get full legal advice on the issue and would make a decision based on it.

He refused to comment on statements by some member of the inquiry who have threatened to resign if Mr Drumm is given permission to give evidence by video link.

Mr Drumm has declined to return to Ireland to give evidence in person. He faces potential criminal charges in relation to the Garda investigation into the bank if he returns to Ireland.

Mr Lynch said the inquiry had faced a number of challenges to date but had operated on a collegial basis so far and he expected tomorrow’s meeting to discuss Mr Drumm’s offer of video evidence to be in the same context.

He refused to be drawn on the implications for the future of the inquiry if some members withdraw from the session if the inquiry agrees to hear Mr Drumm’s evidence in this way.

Concerns

Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath has said he would definitely not participate in an interview by video link. He said even if legal advice permitted the interview to go ahead it would not satisfy his concerns about Mr Drumm being allowed to give evidence in this way.

A number of other committee members including Joe Higgins, Eoghan Murphy, Michael D’Arcy and Seán Barrett are also understood to be opposed to allowing Mr Drumm to give video evidence.

Mr Lynch pointed to the inquiry’s record in avoiding legal entanglements to date and said he was sure its work would continue to be kept out of the courts when the full membership meets and discusses the matter with its support team and legal advisors tomorrow.

Seventy witnesses

He said it was important that the inquiry be allowed to finish its work and he pointed out that it is two-thirds of the way through its schedule having interviewed 70 witnesses without encountering any major legal obstacles.

Mr Lynch said that at the start of the inquiry he had asked members to leave their club jerseys at the door and he was sure they would do that when the group meets again tomorrow.

He also said it was critical that the banking inquiry survived the recent controversies about how it was operating.

Mr Lynch said as a senior counsel had been appointed to look at the internal procedures of the inquiry it would be inappropriate for him to comment on claims made under the whistleblower legislation.

He said the value of the committee’s work would be reflected in its final report, which is due to be published by the end of the year, by which stage the committee would have interviewed some 100 witnesses.