PAC chairman accuses Howlin of seeking 'political bonus'

PUBLIC ACCOUNTS Committee (PAC) chairman John McGuinness of Fianna Fáil has accused the Labour Party of trying to seize the banking inquiry for political gain.

He made the claim following Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin’s apparent indication that he would prefer the Finance committee, chaired by Labour TD Alex White, to undertake the investigation.

“It may be that he’s considering it would turn out to be a bonus for the Labour Party, in a political way, to have the banking inquiry happen under their flag. I don’t see any other reason to prompt him to intervene in the way he did,” Mr McGuinness said.

Mr McGuinness said the PAC had been working on its framework for a banking inquiry for six months before Mr Howlin wrote to him, “on the eve of the launch of our report”.

In his letter, Mr Howlin said any committee could undertake an “inquire, record and report” inquiry, but an investigation that made recommendations for legislative developments “might more suitably involve the Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform Committee”. Asked about the controversy yesterday, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the Government had not made any decision and the matter would be “reflected on in due course”.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said he understood Mr Howlin had written to Mr McGuinness “suggesting that an alternative way of doing it might be through the Finance committee”.

Sinn Féin TD Mary-Lou McDonald said the PAC was the appropriate body to carry out the investigation, despite also being a member of the Finance committee, which had made an “expression of interest”. She said she had no doubt the public would prefer an inquiry that could apportion blame, but that was not available.

A spokeswoman for Mr Howlin’s department said the Minister “strongly supports the holding of an effective parliamentary banking inquiry”. She said Mr Howlin, in consultation with the Attorney General, had been assessing the options for an Oireachtas inquiry “consistent with the Constitution”.

Mr Howlin had received correspondence from the Finance committee regarding a potential banking inquiry as well as the PAC’s proposals, “which he will carefully review”.

Labour was the only party in the Dáil to vote against the bank guarantee in September 2008.