Decision time - Publish banking report in full

News that Finance Minister Brian Lenihan is likely to publish the section of the PriceWaterhouseCooper (PWC) audit relating to Anglo Irish Bank is to be warmly welcomed.

After a week of highly damaging leaks and revelations — both to the minister himself and more importantly to Ireland Inc as a whole — the need to publish all details relating to this bank has never been greater. The decision to publish only part of the PWC report does not, however, go far enough.

The report was commissioned by the minister shortly after September’s announcement of the Government’s bank deposit guarantee scheme.

As such the Government acted wisely in commissioning the audit. Any corporation in need of a disaster recovery plan is right to have as their starting point the identification of the core elements of the problem.

It would appear, however, that on receipt of the PWC report the Government forgot the second rule of disaster recovery: the need to communicate the core elements of the problem to all those who are tasked with aiding in the recovery plan. In this case, the ordinary people of Ireland are being kept in the dark about the extent of the problem in Irish banks.

After a week of damaging revelations — both to himself and, more importantly, our nation’s standing in the global economy — the Minister for Finance should give serious consideration to the publication, in full, of the PWC report.

This will not only put an end to the growing feeling that ordinary taxpayers are being kept in the dark, but will also end the continued drip-feed of revelations that are doing so much damage to the country’s reputation.

Just last week the cost of buying insurance against Irish Government bonds soared to a record high. In short this means that those who lend money to governments throughout the globe no longer see Ireland as a safe economic bet in the money-lending markets. That is bad news for us all.

Of course there will be those who will argue against the publication in full of the PWC report and unsurprisingly the loudest dissenting voices will come from within the financial services sector. They will suggest that the publication would do untold damage as it would not only reveal the true extent of our toxic debt, but would also identify those lenders who are most susceptible to the global recession at this time.

In this regard the Government has a decision to make on whether or not the time has come for a full and complete account to be given to us all of the extent of this problem and what it might mean for in the years ahead.

Coherent arguments can be made on the merits of such transparency but ultimately last week’s opinion poll ratings may well be the deciding factor. The Irish people have never been found wanting when it comes to their patriotic duty but it seems that unless there is full transparency as regards the banking situation, problems far greater than opinion poll results lie ahead for this Government.

A good starting point to averting these crises would be the publication of the PWC report in full.