FF Senator says party has ‘legacy issues’ in banking inquiry

The Fianna Fáil Senator whose appointment to the banking inquiry caused controversy has said his party will have "legacy issues" to deal with when the investigation gets underway.

Marc MacSharry also said there should be a "European context" to the inquiry in the course of an interview on 'Inside Politics', the Irish Times's weekly politics podcast.

“When parties are in Government the buck stops with them, there’s no question. There’s nobody running away from that responsibility…of course there are legacy issues,” he said.

“A new team speak for Fianna Fáil now. We do want the truth. If anybody thinks Michael McGrath and I are going to step back from serious questions just because it’s a former party colleague, they’re wrong.”

Mr MacSharry said pressure from European institutions should also be assessed.

He said his former position as his party's finance spokesman in the Seanad gave him access to then minister for finance Brian Lenihan that others may not have enjoyed.

“I know that his original hope was not to have to pay back secured and unsecured bond holders. And I know that that changed along the process,” he said.

“My personal belief in that regard is that was a big European angle.”

Mr MacSharry said what he described as the Government’s plan to try to discredit him “backfired spectacularly”.

When Mr Mac Sharry was nominated, Fine Gael Senator Maurice Cummins claimed the Fianna Fáil Senator had a conflict of interest, which he declined to elaborate on. He later withdrew the remark.

“I don’t recall an accusation like that being made other than the famous Garrett FitzGerald questioning the flawed character of (former taoiseach) Charlie Haughey…on a much smaller scale,” Mr MacSharry said.

He said “vexatious” rumours had been put out “that I might have been in some kind of financial difficulty or was owing a lot of money to the banks”. He said he was happy to say that was not the case.

He said he did not trust the suspension of the whip. The will of Taoiseach Enda Kenny would be strongly represented by Fine Gael members, he insisted.