Regulator in the dock? - or a good day to bury bad news.

[He3]

The Examiner has an editorial on freedom of information. It ends with an intriguing observation on the timing of the Regulator's appearance before an Oireachtas Committee to account for his stewardship.


This act is one of the best tools we have to keep politicians on the straight and narrow and it must not be further undermined. If you think access to information unimportant, if you imagine that its release is random, consider this. This morning, as the focus of more or less every conscious person in the country is on the budget, senior officials from the Financial Regulator’s office will appear before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Economic Regulatory Affairs at noon to discuss the role of the regulator. They may even discuss that office’s role in overseeing the banks. Ordinarily this event would get top billing but it may just be superseded today.

Coincidence or, as a former press officer in Tony Blair’s government infamously said of 9/11... “a good day to bury bad news ...”

You decide

Link

[jdckelly]

Sounds like trying to bury bad news to me

[He3]

Why are the members of the Committee going along with this?

Seán Ardagh Fianna Fáil
Joe Behan Fianna Fáil
Ciarán Cuffe Green Party Vice-Chair
Damien English Fine Gael
Peter Kelly Fianna Fáil
Seamus Kirk Fianna Fáil
Michael Moynihan Fianna Fáil Chair
Kieran O'Donnell Fine Gael
Fergus O'Dowd Fine Gael
Sean Sherlock Labour
Leo Varadkar Fine Gael
Paul Coghlan Fine Gael
Ned O'Sullivan Fianna Fáil
Shane P.N. Ross Independent
Diarmuid Wilson Joint Fianna Fáil

[Myles_per_hour]

The Examiner has an editorial on freedom of information. It ends with an intriguing observation on the timing of the Regulator's appearance before an Oireachtas Committee to account for his stewardship.


This act is one of the best tools we have to keep politicians on the straight and narrow and it must not be further undermined. If you think access to information unimportant, if you imagine that its release is random, consider this. This morning, as the focus of more or less every conscious person in the country is on the budget, senior officials from the Financial Regulator’s office will appear before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Economic Regulatory Affairs at noon to discuss the role of the regulator. They may even discuss that office’s role in overseeing the banks. Ordinarily this event would get top billing but it may just be superseded today.

Coincidence or, as a former press officer in Tony Blair’s government infamously said of 9/11... “a good day to bury bad news ...”

You decide

Link

Coincidence.

The meeting with the regulator was arranged for this Tuesday months ago. It is a long scheduled meeting. (They have their schedule for meeting right up to December all laid out.)

The budget date was picked weeks later. Normally it would be on a Wednesday but Cowen has an important EU meeting on Wednesday so the budget was moved to Tuesday.

The crisis that made an issue of the regulator's lack of regulation occurred after the date for the meeting had been set and after the date for the budget had been set. In the real world meetings like this are set up months earlier.

[He3]

Accepting what you say about the sequence of timing, is it normal for such an important Committee meeting to take place on Budget Day?

Can it not be adjourned for say a week to allow for proper scrutiny and coverage?

[Myles_per_hour]

Accepting what you say about the sequence of timing, is it normal for such an important Committee meeting to take place on Budget Day?

No. But the committee had no way of knowing that an economic crisis would hit and the budget would be moved forward by a month and a half. And government would have had no way of knowing how important that committee meeting would become, because they did not expect the bank crashes.

Can it not be adjourned for say a week to allow for proper scrutiny and coverage?

I doubt it. Those on that committee will be on a lot of other committees with already scheduled meetings. They may also have their own meetings scheduled for the rest of the term. It would involve

i. finding a date that the Regulator would be available again
ii. finding a time when the members are not already required at other meetings.
iii. finding an available committee meeting room.

There are so many committees often there is only one time slot available for a meeting. So if they missed this one, they might not be able to arrange a meeting with him until the new year.

To be honest, there is a hell of a lot of great committee work being done by TDs and senators. Unfortunately the public don't know because the media never cover them.

[He3]

The Regulator should be available to the Oireachtas for the asking in the present circumstances. The members of the Committee can have no more pressing item on their agenda.

There are spare rooms in Buswells if it comes to it.

[Myles_per_hour]

The Regulator should be available to the Oireachtas for the asking in the present circumstances. The members of the Committee can have no more pressing item on their agenda.

There are spare rooms in Buswells if it comes to it.

1. The guy is himself rather busy right now with the banking crisis.

2. They have a lot of pressing things on their agenda. They are on many committees and are working on a range of matters, some of them requiring the completion of important reports within the next few weeks.

3. Meetings of parliament take place in parliament not in hotel rooms for legal, insurance and access reasons unless the meeting is taking place outside Dublin and then the arrangement of a meeting for legal reasons is not straightforward.

[He3]

Michael Casey has some comments the Committee might like to think about.

[BodyofEvidence]

1. The guy is himself rather busy right now with the banking crisis.

2. They have a lot of pressing things on their agenda. They are on many committees and are working on a range of matters, some of them requiring the completion of important reports within the next few weeks.

3. Meetings of parliament take place in parliament not in hotel rooms for legal, insurance and access reasons unless the meeting is taking place outside Dublin and then the arrangement of a meeting for legal reasons is not straightforward.

Myles : thats tosh, and you know it.
a) If you think that Pat is really running the show on the banks, on 32.5h per week, well.....
b) I kinda think that the crisis and the effects thereof are both urgent and important. The dail committee on the whitetailed egret or to send a delegation to Singapore to investigate the promotion of the irish language or whatever is less important.
c) So, theres nowhere at all in LH? At all at all at all? They cant cluster round a table in the canteen or throw a table in the hall or meet in one of the lounges? Come on.