Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Without labouring the point too much, having listened to the witnesses and read the documentation, I have formed the view that the Department was very passive in this relationship. The witnesses tell us that there was daily contact between officials in Mr. Reid's unit, one presumes, and the bank itself. There were monthly meetings and so on. However, at the core of this, in terms of the Department's watchdog role, I have formed the view that the Department was passive. I put it to the witnesses that it is a convenient interpretation for the Department to say now that the relationship framework was restrictive and locked it out. The facts indicate that the Department did not test the framework in anything like the way it should have if it was honouring its core objective, which was to minimise cost and risk to the public.