Charlie McCreevy slow to say if role led to crash

The banking inquiry was dramatically suspended for 20 minutes yesterday after former finance minister Charlie McCreevy repeatedly refused to answer key questions on what caused the economic crash.

The unexpected turn of events occurred after Mr McCreevy, the first politician to appear, declined to give an opinion on whether his policies fuelled the property bubble central to the crisis.

In a bullish stand-off that set the tone for hours of “elusive” responses, the finance minister from 1999 to 2004 was asked five times by Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty if a bubble occurred at any point and if his policies contributed to it.

However, on each occasion the former Fianna Fáil TD — who at the height of the boom described his budget ethos as “when I have it, I spend it” — refused to elaborate other than to say none happened while he was minister. Mr McCreevy said he made a vow to himself not to discuss government matters after 2004, when he became an EU commissioner — a position he no longer holds — and “ceased” to be responsible.

However, after the inquiry was suspended for private legal advice, Mr McCreevy was hauled back and told by chair and Labour TD Ciaran Lynch he would face criminal penalties if he refused to comply.

Bristling, the former finance minister was asked again by Mr Doherty if there was a property bubble, replying: “As I said before being interrupted, I don’t believe the policies I pursued created the bubble.”

Earlier, in his opening statement, he staunchly defended his time in office. He said it would have been “morally wrong” not to spend money during the boom, asking if people who feel this was wrong are “for real” and if they realise “it is difficult to run a surplus in a democracy”, as “politicians like to be re-elected”.

He suggested his ignoring back-room advice against introducing Special Savings Incentive Accounts was akin to Donagh O’Malley’s 1966 decision to ignore advice not to introduce free secondary school education.

Mr McCreevy, who oversaw nine budgets, said his government was “more responsible than any other in the history of the State”, and he rejected Fine Gael senator Michael D’Arcy’s claims he was buying elections, stating: “I am not that much of a genius.”

When asked by Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath if key crash “ingredients” existed under his watch, Mr McCreevy was unapologetic.

“You’d only apologise for anything you got wrong. I don’t believe I did,” he said, adding it is “futile” to say “what would have happened if I stayed”.

After side-stepping questions on meeting developers in 2003, an angry exchange erupted over a €1.6m Irish Nationwide loan he received “in the normal way” in 2006.

He said the inquiry was “surreal” when he was asked about builder friends, including one whose daughter’s wedding he attended.

He told Socialist TD Joe Higgins the only Galway tent “pain in the backside” was journalists looking for freebies”. Asked by Mr McGrath if policy disputes resulted in him being sent to Europe, he replied: “There’ll be books written about that.”