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THE CHAIRMAN OF the Dáil’s powerful Public Accounts Committee has said that he wants a “broad, comprehensive” inquiry into the banking crisis and believes his committee is best-placed to do it.
Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness also suggested that there are some bankers and civil servants who do not want an inquiry into the events surrounding the bank guarantee of September 2008 which saddled the Irish taxpayer with €64 billion in banking debt.
“You’d be naive not to believe that there are people that would like to have no inquiry at all whether they be bankers or indeed in the civil service,” McGuinness told RTÉ’s The Week in Politics.
He was speaking in response to a story on the frontpage of the Sunday Independent today in which he is quoted alleging that “powerful people” are seeking to undermine a prospective probe into the banking crisis.
The government has been seeking to bring forward legislation to strengthen the Oireachtas’ ability to carry out inquiries into matters of public interest in the wake of the rejection of a referendum that would have allowed such inquiries to make findings of fact against individuals.
The legislation would likely settle an ongoing dispute over whether McGuinness’ PAC or the Oireachtas Finance Committee, chaired by Labour TD Ciaran Lynch, should investigate the banking collapse.
McGuinness said today that the debate over whether his committee or Lynch’s should hold an inquiry is a “phony argument” and said that the government’s legislation would “simply push the problem down the road” delaying any inquiry.
On the same programme, the Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton said that the legislation was “technically very demanding” and said the delays in bringing it forward were a result of ensuring that any person called to an inquiry would not seek to delay proceedings by going to court.
She insisted that it was “highly desirable” that the Oireachtas be in a position to investigate the banking collapse.
McGuinness said “the time has come when we need to know what happened on the night” of the bank guarantee in September 2008 and said his committee had completed the groundwork for such an inquiry.
Burton added that looking at the night of the guarantee itself would not be sufficient and indicated that politicians would need to examine the years leading up to the collapse of the country’s banking system.
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Religion is bad for your health. Physical and mental.
Shouldn’t you be at some atheist conference?
Exactly Stephen.
The people who celebrate the holiday will do just fine. They’ve been doing it for hundreds of years, they don’t need some 2013 study to tell them to stop doing it.
Yea….who needs silly health studies!! Sure we will all be fine!!
Listen to the Mullahs ignore science !
I’ll be enjoying my pork chops throughout Ramadan.
I believe that allowances are made for people who may be ill, or are not strong enough to participate.
Me friend puts on about 15 pounds every year at Ramadan
Is he eating his Muslim friends’ dinners?
The purely Diabetic related issues are the length of time, in summer specifically, they have to fast and the particularly modern issue that many Muslims haven’t faced over the centuries is Diabetes.
They may be fasting centuries but Diabetes was not prevalent for most of those.
Couldn’t do it would faint from hunger
Its not like they dont eat at all… I think its just before sunrise and after sunset that they have a meal
Most have no food or water from sunset to sunrise, that includes abstaining from cigarettes (if you are a smoker) or chewing gum
But they have a feast the times they do eat and in a lot of countries with a big islamic population they are allowed half days work/school.
And realistically not a lot give up smoking (though they try to just hide it during Ramadan) and most would atleast have a bit of water to refresh their mouth so not to have bad breath. (Most people who fast would have some water).
If you know much about other fasting practises you’d know Ramadan isnt too bad … not to say it’s any easier etc. I know of religious people who fast by just having a slice or bread or a cup of tea in the morning and then break their fast around 5/7pm
Some people fasting during Ramadan put on loads of weight as they eat huge meals and banquets before sunrise and after sunset every day. Probably more difficult for the body to cope with.
Fasting can have health benifits for the human body, and Islamic people that i know will confirm this, and it is recommended at intervails by health specialists,during the month of Ramadan the fast is strickly during daylight hours and food can be eaten after midnight.
For a diabetic, I’d say that not eating, not drinking and not taking your medication for 18 hours is not the healthiest option.
What’s this fasting about anyway? Why do they fast for a month?
A lot of them lose weight in Saudi all year round, by choping off the odd hand or head.
Completely reversed my Diabetes Type 2 in 7 months … not difficult.
Wrote a short paper on it free on Kindle Prime.
“The Walnut Cure for Diabetes Type 2″
Shabbat begins at 9.36 PM today and ends at 11.17PM tomorrow.
have your say