Banking inquiry to examine relationships between State authorities, banks and property sector today
The relationships between State authorities, political parties, banking institutions and the property sector will be discussed by the Banking Inquiry today.
Members of the committee will hear from Dr Elaine Byrne, a specialist on governance, regulation and political finance and Frank McDonald, a former editor with the Irish Times, as part of its hearings.
Yesterday, the Governor of the Central Bank said some painful cuts could have been avoided if Anglo Irish Bank had been nationalised, but that it was not responsible for the bulk of austerity measures.
Yesterday's session was diminated by the night of the bank guarantee.
Professor Honohan said that nationalising Anglo would have saved some money, but that 80% or 90% of the overall hardship was unavoidable.
Socialist party TD Joe Higgins asked Patrick Honohan whether some cuts could have been avoided by winding up the bank.
"Even if it was €10bn or €12bn, is it the case that very painful cuts to ordinary people and their services could have been avoided?" he asked.
"Absolutely, there's no dispute about that - but it was a relatively small portion, " replied Mr Honohan. "That doesn't mean it wasn't worth doing - it should have been done in that sceanrio."
