During a discussion with the Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Patrick Honohan, on the banking crisis reports at the Joint Oireachtas Commitee on Finance and the Public Service, I said: My query is about this commission of investigation. From the words he has used, I wonder whether we need another commission of investigation or an inquiry..

Professor Honohan’s report seems to me to do exactly and in a very short timeframe what does not always happen when tribunals of inquiry and commissions are set up. We have a very bad history in Ireland of the length of commissions of inquiry or investigation. They end up costing a lot of money and time and nobody ever ends up in jail as a result of them. Professor Honohan’s report was produced in a short period of time and from the words he has used in the last half an hour he is now in a powerful position to be able to make proposals to the Government. Both he and Matthew Elderfield have built up a faith in themselves and the nation trusts them and relies on them. I think Professor Honohan can demand anything. I wonder whether we need another inquiry or another investigation.

Professor Honohan believes we do not and that there are easier ways and if he says so, then the nation and the international financial markets will back him. If I understand him correctly, he is saying we should leave it in his hands. We can trust him to deliver a speedier and more efficient investigation. Does Professor Honohan recognise how strong a position he is in and does he feel he could say to Government that we do not need an investigation and that he could have the information for it within a couple of months?

In pages 46 and 47 of the report, Professor Honohan discusses the principles-based as against the rules-based regulation. He may have touched on that when I was absent, but it would put my mind at rest to know that what is being proposed will not stifle our ability to have start-up businesses and entrepreneurial flair in the economy of the future.

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