Warning row will damage banking inquiry

The launch of the long awaited Oireachtas inquiry into the banking collapse has been postponed until next month.

The nine-member probe was due to start tomorrow, but has been halted due to a bitter row about whether a Fianna Fáil senator can sit on the committee.

The Coalition is scrambling to gain a majority on the investigation after farcical scenes saw the Government fail to get its preferred nominee, senator Susan O’Keeffe, onto the committee after she and a fellow Labour member failed to show up for the collective making the decision.

Instead, Fianna Fáil’s Marc MacSharry and Independent Trinity economist Seán Barrett were nominated.

This provoked uproar in the Seanad as the leader of the upper house, Maurice Cummings, accused Mr MacSharry of having a “conflict of interest”, before withdrawing the remarks.

Now, the Coalition has referred the matter to the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, but the watchdog body cannot examine the issue until the end of the month.

The Seanad has to approve the two names from the upper house that will join seven TDs on the banking inquiry, and the Government is determined to use its slim majority to prevent that happening before the Committee on Procedure and Privileges looks into the matter.

Fianna Fáil chairman of the Seanad committee that selected the two members, Denis O’Donovan, warned that the row could damage the work of the investigation and his panel should not be reconvened.

The incident is a major blow to the credibility of the inquiry as opposition figures, particularly those in Fianna Fáil, have accused ministers of wanting a Government majority on the investigation so it can be used for party political purposes in the run-up to the next general election.

Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath said: “The continued, cack-handed mismanagement of the process is now turning this key public investigation into a farce.”

A senior Coalition source defended the idea of having a Government majority on the inquiry on the basis that the composition of the probe should reflect the make-up of the Dáil.

Any delay in the operation of the investigation is tricky for the Government as the probe must report before the next general election, or else it will be swept away with the present Dáil.

Ministers had been confident the Coalition would go full term until elections in 2016, but the resignation of Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has made an earlier general election much more likely.

The investigation has faced numerous delays, and will not be able to apportion blame to individuals as voters rejected restoring such powers to Oireachtas probes in a 2011 referendum.

The probe is expected to question central players in the previous government, such as Brian Cowen and Bertie Ahern, and has been tasked with wrapping-up its inquiry within a year under the chairmanship of Cork Labour TD Ciarán Lynch.