Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am almost lost for words. After all Ireland has been through, and especially the Department of Finance, the Minister for Finance has now set up an inquiry, to report back to him at the end of August, with a blank cheque and with no fee having been agreed. Have we learned nothing? Has the Department of Finance learned nothing? I understand daily rates and hourly rates, and I will pursue the witnesses on that in a moment, but we now find that the Department has appointed people to carry out an inquiry and to compile a report but cannot give me a figure for the fee. Is it €1 million? Is it €2 million? As was said in the opening statement, it will be paid by the liquidator and may ultimately come out of what is available for distribution to the creditors, including the State. So the Irish taxpayer is now paying for this inquiry.

I am sure the Department has agreed the number of staff and the hourly rate for those staff. Can Ms Nolan tell me what KPMG charges for the work it is doing today? How many additional staff will be required? KPMG was given a ministerial directive to carry out this function. There was no bid for the contract and it was not put out to public tender, which the Department could have done. Instead, the Department decided to take a short cut and appoint KPMG because it was in situand had the most access to the books. We spoke about procurement and tendering a few days ago. The Comptroller and Auditor General might comment on whether this was such an exceptional measure that it required normal public tendering processes to be put to one side.

How much is it costing per day? Even if the Department cannot tell me, it must have an estimate.