The Inquiries Act - The Banking Inquiry A Test Case?

The fifth anniversary of the "bank guarantee" - 30th September - has passed and it is timely that at the end of September 2013 legislation was enacted which will enable the long anticipated banking inquiry to take place. The public interest in the events leading up to the bank guarantee has not waned. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin¹ when signing the commencement order for the Act, commented that the people of Ireland have made some basic demands with regard to the scope of a banking inquiry into the events leading up to 30 September 2008 including the need to know i) how it happened, ii) who was involved and iii) who gave advice.

The Minister outlined the new statutory powers available to the legislature in the Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Act, 2013 (the "Act"). The Act will provide a statutory framework to assist the House to conduct inquiries into matters of public importance i.e. a