Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Okay. On the .... another matter ... it's just the ... following ... there'll be two documents coming up on the screen there relating to the credit committee's operational review. The first one relates to December '08. Following the delegation of authority of the credit committee in December 2007, internal audits carried out by two reviews of the operation of the credit committee: one in July 2008 covering the period of January to June 2008, and the other in January 2009 covering the period of July to December 2008. The findings note that the frequency of meetings declined as the year went on, to the point where the ... in the internal audit's opinion, the credit committee is not meeting just ... is not meeting with enough frequency to fulfil its duties, and it's listed there as being of high risk. It's given a rating of 2.4 that the credit committee may not be adhering to its terms of reference of meeting.

Then moving on to the January '09 report, it also notes that several other weaknesses, including one critical issue re the failure to present a facility for approval before drawdown, and that relates ... I think it's coming up on the screen there. It says, when it comes - it's the fourth one down I think - the credit committee minutes may not be adequate and may not represent an accurate description of each meeting. And the other one, once again the credit committee may not be adhering to its terms of reference and so forth. Mr. Fingleton, can I ask you to explain why the credit committee was not functioning properly during this critical period in 2008?