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

Yes. Since I wrote the letter, the Oireachtas has established a commission of inquiry. When I wrote that letter it was quite clear from comments that the Minister for Finance had an issue and he wanted to correct the record of the Dáil, which he did in person on Tuesday. I wanted the same procedure to apply here rather than a letter coming in here. The statement was given orally and I wanted the record corrected in person as well.

Since I wrote that letter, the Oireachtas has established a commission of investigation. Now that the commission is in situ, does the Committee of Public Accounts have the ability to deal with issues that are the subject matter of the commission? In light of the commission having been established, are we in a position at this stage to accept an appearance from the Secretary General to correct the Dáil record on a matter which may be germane to the commission of investigation? If it is deemed to be germane to the commission of investigation, I do not believe we could have that issue dealt with here today. In that case it would be up to the Secretary General if he wants to inform the commission of the inaccurate Dáil record or Committee of Public Accounts record. That is a matter for him.

However, the terms of reference of the commission as approved by the Dáil yesterday state that it is to investigate matters where there is a capital loss of €10 million or other matters specifically identified by the commission. The Government was very clear not to have the terms of reference so broad that the commission could go on for a long time.

The terms of reference are narrow and specific to a number of transactions. In my view, taking into account that document and the specific terms of reference, the only matters being considered by the commission of investigation are those in respect of which there was a €10 million write-off and other matters that may be identified by the commission. There is nothing in the terms of reference preventing any arm of the Oireachtas discussing matters surrounding the relationship between the Department of Finance and IBRC. The only matters included in the terms of reference in respect of the Department of Finance are those relating to each transaction under investigation, whether the Minister for Finance or his Department were kept informed, where appropriate, in respect of the transactions concerned and whether he, or the officials on his behalf, took appropriate steps in respect of the information provided to them. As I said, the terms of reference are very specific to particular transactions. In my view, the terms of reference do not preclude a discussion in the Oireachtas, including at this committee, any other committee or in the Dáil Chamber on all relationships between the Department of Finance and IBRC during the period in question. The terms of reference are very narrow and specific. The Government did not want to broaden the terms of reference to include all matters.

Reference was made during our last meeting to the relationship framework and the revised relationship framework which the troika in 2011 requested the Government to complete. IBRC wanted that done. As far as I am aware, there were umpteen drafts of that framework. These issues are not included in the terms of reference nor is the matter of the monthly board pack which dealt with matters other than the specific transactions provided for in the terms of reference. In my view, all matters, other than those specific transactions, can be discussed in the Oireachtas and everywhere else, including by this committee.

The Secretary General of the Department of Finance should be put on notice that during his appearance before the committee to correct a particular matter he will be requested to discuss all other matters in relation to IBRC. We did not complete our consideration of the Vote during the last meeting, in particular in relation to matters that are not specific to the commission. I do not think it would be appropriate for the committee to allow the Secretary General to simply appear before it, correct the record and then leave. If officials from the Department of Finance are to appear before the committee to discuss an issue in relation to our last meeting, they should also be asked to discuss all matters surrounding the relationship between the Department and IBRC that are not specific to the commission.