FF accepts criticism with ‘all parties’

FIANNA FÁIL says it “accepts its responsibilities” in contributing to a political consensus by “all parties” that lead to the banking crisis.

It claims the Commission of Investigation report into the crisis shows a “systemic failure” was to blame rather than the government of the day.

The report said that Government policies allowed the unhindered expansion of the property bubble and the risks involved were seriously misjudged by the authorities.

And while it did not pinpoint blame, it said “people who make decisions must ultimately be responsible for them regardless of what advice or suggestions they have received”.

It found options other than the blanket guarantee could have been considered by the Government on the night it made the decision in September 2008.

The Government could have accessed temporary funding to buy time to come up with a more thought out approach such as “limiting the scope and duration of the guarantee”, it said.

But the report pointed out there were concerns that the market would not have acted positively to such a delay.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan said the report by the Finnish expert Peter Nyberg “doesn’t exonerate” the Fianna Fáil government of the day. He said while the language used was quite diplomatic, there is “a lot of tough stuff in it” and it “hits very hard on the political responsibility”.

Deputy Fianna Fáil leader Brian Lenihan, who was finance minister in the run-up to the crisis has attempted to share the blame, saying Fine Gael and Labour must “recognise and acknowledge” their role.

“We support its core analysis that there was a systemic failure of regulation and oversight,” he said.

“The report is also correct in pointing to the political consensus, involving all parties, which saw the main issue at the time as being the expansion of public services and increasing public spending. Fianna Fáil accepts its responsibilities in this regard, but the question remains whether Fine Gael and Labour will now recognise and acknowledge their role.”

But Mr Noonan said criticism of Fianna Fáil in the report was carefully drafted.