Bank guarantee report - Openness in short supply

While in opposition, Michael Noonan called for openness in dealing with the banking collapse, but now as Minister for Finance, he has been sitting on the report conducted by accountants Ernst and Young and solicitors McCann Fitzgerald in the events that led the Government to pump €5.4 billion of taxpayers’ money in Irish Nationwide.

The minister and the Department of Finance have had the report since the middle of last year.

While in opposition, Fine Gael and the Labour Party were in the happy position of being able to criticise the previous government freely, because they were not responsible for what happened.