COMMISSION:THE PROPOSED Commission of Investigation into the banking crisis would have a maximum period of six months to carry out its work and deliver a report, under draft terms of reference agreed by the Government.
The period under investigation is from January 1st, 2003 until September 28th, 2008, the day before the bank guarantee scheme was agreed by the Government.
Four “specific matters” are to be investigated, because they are “considered by the Government to be of significant public concern and requiring in the public interest an expedited examination”.
The four subjects of inquiry are as follows:
- The main causes of the "serious failures" of the credit institutions covered by the guarantee scheme "to implement and adhere to appropriate standards and controls";
- In respect of Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide, the main causes for the adoption and implementation of "business and lending practices which resulted in those institutions experiencing severe financial distress";
- The performance of external auditors in highlighting the "failures" of the covered institutions and, in particular, Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide.
- 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 in relation to the regulation and supervision of the covered institutions and the maintenance of financial stability, particularly corporate governance and risk management policies and practices.
Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said: “Following consideration by the Oireachtas of the draft terms of reference, the Minister will prepare a draft Government Order to establish a statutory Commission of Investigation. The draft Order will be put to both Houses of the Oireachtas for a vote in the period ahead.
“The report of the Commission of Investigation will, when completed, be laid before the Oireachtas for further consideration. It will then be open to an Oireachtas committee to hold further hearings on the report.”
Mr Lenihan told a news conference yesterday that the terms of reference could be amended at the suggestion of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service and that it would be open to the chair of the commission to hold hearings in public if and when he or she wished to do so.
Green Party finance spokesman Senator Dan Boyle said in a statement: “The legislation that governs commissions of inquiry makes presumptions that such inquires are held in private unless a witness coming before it wishes to have their evidence heard in public. The Head of the Commission can also decide that it is in the public interest for such evidence to be heard in public.
“The Green Party believes that those in charge of the inquiry must strive to hold as much as possible of the proceedings in public.”