Ministers cast doubt on PAC probe

A third minister has rowed into the row over proposals for a public bank inquiry and questioned proposals by a high-level Oireachtas committee to lead the probe.

Richard Bruton, the jobs minister, sided with Cabinet colleagues yesterday in raising doubts over any inquiry being conducted by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

He said there was concern that the probe would be overseen by a Fianna Fáil former minister, namely PAC chairman John McGuinness, who was in the last government during the banking crisis.

Mr Bruton’s comment come after ministers Pat Rabbitte and Brendan Howlin earlier this week questioned whether the PAC under Mr McGuinness was the right forum for any such inquiry.

Mr Rabbitte, the communications minister, suggested the PAC chairman was the wrong person to head the probe. The Labour minister has suggested that the Oireachtas finance committee, headed by party colleague Alex White, could lead it.

Mr Bruton yesterday said: “There would be some concern if a former Fianna Fáil minister was the key driver of an inquiry. That would be true no matter who the individual was. They [the Government] need to be careful in selecting who will lead this inquiry.”

Time would be needed for any probe about the night of the bank guarantee in Sept 2008 and the scope of an inquiry had to be narrow, he told News-talk’s Lunchtime Show.

Michael Noonan, the finance minister, also intervened in the row by saying a third committee could oversee any inquiry. However, he agreed that the chairmen of the PAC and finance committee were equally competent.

Mr McGuinness said he took issue with a minister disagreeing that he should lead a banking probe. He was surprised Mr Rabbitte had “personalised” the situation. Fine Gael and Labour TDs had supported his nomination as the head of PAC, he noted. He dismissed any suggestion he might have to step aside.