Call to hold bank inquiry before local elections

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said next year’s proposed banking inquiry should commence before the local elections which are due to be held alongside the European Elections in May.

The timing has the potential to cause a political headache for Fianna Fáil because a number of its former high-profile politicians are likely to be called to give evidence in the run-up to the elections.

Fianna Fáil fully supports the establishment of the Oireachtas probe.

It will be held under the new Oireachtas inquiries legislation, passed earlier this year, and will focus on the events surrounding the decision by the Fianna Fáil-Green Party government for the bank guarantee in September 2008.

The author of a previous report into the banking meltdown, Peter Nyberg, has already said he would be surprised if the inquiry uncovered anything new.

The former Finnish finance minister’s government-commissioned report found that “a mania” had gripped Ireland with banks, regulators, politicians, and the media failing to tackle the crisis as it developed.