Leveson-type inquiry needed

It is nothing short of a national disgrace that in 2013 we are still talking about holding an inquiry into the activities of the banking sector in the years leading up to the giving of the guarantee of the 28th day of September 2008, when the need to get to the bottom of the mess was obvious to all that very day.

The fact that our “political elite” are obfuscating at every turn about an inquiry and are only having their hands forced now by the revelations of recent days is so inexplicable that one wonders if they are really that stupid or is there some other agenda? Seeking to find out the truth can hardly be politically unpopular for even the most cowardly of public figures. As a citizen and taxpayer, I want to know what happened in all the bailed out banks, from the bottom to the top.

Considering it has taken five years for our “political elite” to even consider an inquiry, then no reasonable person can have any confidence in one held by the Oireachtas. Nor can anyone be enthusiastic at the idea of a repetition of the inquiries we have had in the past 20 years, which were ruinously costly in terms of time and money. What is required is a Leveson-type inquiry led by a High Court judge (or some other suitably-independent and respected person) with the central goal to get to the truth as soon as possible.