Finance department to face 10-year performance review

THE under-fire Department of Finance is to be subjected to a full-scale review of its performance throughout the decade and its ability to predict economic threats.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said that while he had confidence in the staff at the department, he wanted to improve their ability to assess risks. The examination will involve expertise from abroad and will look at how comparable departments in other countries operate.

Mr Lenihan said the precise nature of the inquiry had not been finalised, however he predicted it would be completed in months rather than years.

“The review would be informed by a detailed consideration of the department’s performance in the past 10 years, including in relation to the development and management of the current crisis. [This would be] with a view to ensuring the lessons of this period of stress will inform the development of the department in the future.”

Mr Lenihan told the Oireachtas committee on finance that the review will be independent of the Commission of Inquiry into the banking crisis and it will examine the suitability of policy advice provided to various ministers for finance – including benchmarking and tax incentives.

The initial two banking reports, released this month, pointed to how the policies on tax reliefs and regulation contributed to the collapse.

Mr Lenihan also revealed the €1.8 million budget for the inquiry will include potential legal costs from those implicated in its investigations and wanting to defend themselves.

Labour’s Joan Burton said there was a danger of expensive lawyers making a fortune at the taxpayers’ expense.