A parliamentary inquiry into the banking crisis would be a priority if the 30th Amendment to the Constitution was passed, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said today.
At a news conference with Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, Mr Kenny stressed the importance of easing the limitations on Oireachtas committees.
“I want to find out what happened on the night in question when the decision surrounding banks was made that affects every single person in the country and I don’t have any evidence of what went on,” he said.
He added: “The outstanding case, and ask anybody on that street out there, is the whole situation surrounding banking.
“There needs to be an opportunity to bring in people to explain why decisions were made, the rationale behind them, the reasons that they were made and their impact upon ordinary people.
“If you knock on a thousand doors, people will say: ‘Why don’t you have the opportunity in the Dáil to have people from all parties in an appropriate setting able to conduct inquiries of public interest?’”
Asked to comment on the claim by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties that the Abbeylara referendum would set up “kangaroo courts”, Mr Kenny replied: “That is complete nonsense.”
He added: “There is no question of kangaroo courts being set up here and the comment from the civil liberties group is not true, it is patently false.” Mr Kenny said “hysteria” was being generated over the implications of the amendment to extend the powers of Oireachtas inquiries.
“There are appropriate regulations and limitations built into the law here that protect the good name of people involved”.
Asked about the criticisms of former tánaiste and attorney general Michael McDowell, the Taoiseach said: “Didn’t I hear him, or do I recall properly that, in respect of keeping the good name of people, he did call a very senior political person from the Fine Gael party ‘the Goebbels of Irish politics’.”
Commenting on the joint letter by eight former attorneys-general opposing the proposed amendments on judicial salaries and parliamentary inquiries, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said: "There is a bit of an old boys’ network, to be honest, about what we saw yesterday, coming from this particular section of the legal profession."