Central Bank chief calls for halt to inquiry

THE head of the Central Bank Patrick Honohan has questioned the need for the Government’s planned Commission of Investigation into the banking crisis.

Although last week’s two independent reports into the Irish banking crisis – prepared separately by Mr Honohan and international banking experts Klaus Regling and Max Watson – were commissioned as initial reference points for the Government’s planned full-scale investigation, Mr Honohan yesterday expressed reservations concerning the probe.

Addressing the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance and Public Service, Mr Honohan said it would be better to park the plan until the idea of a Commission of Investigation was “fully fleshed out”.