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FORMER leader of the opposition Michael Noonan TD, is demanding that the banking enquiry takes place in public and not behind closed doors.
The carelessness shown by the banks during the boom years, he says, resulted in massive social discontent and the enquiry should be televised to let people know what brought about their downfall.
Speaking to the Limerick Post, Deputy Noonan said there was a large amount of public anger: “People that had nothing to do with the problems and didn’t cause them are now being hurt through the budget, and losing their jobs, and it looks like those who were responsible continue to live in wealth”
His comments after the government announced the terms of reference for the enquiry.
The Fine Gael TD has rejected the proposals out of hand: “A lot of people have lost their jobs and their savings because of this crisis, and because of things that were done by the bankers, vindication has to take place in public.
“It simply must be in public so it isn’t some cosy arrangement between government ministers, civil servants and bankers behind closed doors”.
He spoke about the type of reform he is seeking: “We’ll be looking at banking practice as they obviously loaned far more than they should have… vast amounts of money that were not justified by the security that developers were putting forward”.
According to him, any enquiry needs to be focused so it doesn’t become meaningless: “We need to confine the terms of reference to the essential issues so you are not wandering all over the place. We need to focus on what happened here, why the banks went bust? Why the taxpayer has to put so much money into the banks? Why the extraordinary things that were happening in Anglo Irish Bank were happening? Why the Central bank and the regulators office didn’t intervene on behalf of the taxpayers and stop it happening?”
He cited developer Bernard McNamara: “There’s such a hole between what he owes and what he has, it’s going to bring down the company and an awful lot of people will lose their jobs.
“There was no hesitation from the minister when asked why the government had tried to stall an enquiry. Part of any enquiry would involve investigating the political element or policies which gave rise to this. You have a situation where two of the key former Fianna Fail ministers for finance would have to be key witnesses at any enquiry. They would have to explain how their policy left the gaps through which bankers operated”.
Deputy Noonan believes that the government should not force through a behind closed doors enquiry: “They would be very unwise… there’s no confidence in the enquiry…. It’s like the old saying, it’s not enough that justice be done, it must be seen to be done”.
He described the Moriarty Tribunal, which has taken 12 years to complete, as ridiculous: “There are people who weren’t out of primary school when it began and are now voting who don’t remember the events that led to the tribunal”.
