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

It is on page 121. Mindful of the scenario that had gone before around fixers' fees, the board approached Cerberus to get certain comfort in respect of fixers' fees and was advised that it had agreed a success fee with Brown Rudnick. The board would have known Brown Rudnick’s role in the previous PIMCO scenario. Following further clarification, the board discovered Brown Rudnick had contracted to Tughans solicitors - I am sure this name rang a bell – and that the success fee was to be split 50:50 between Brown Rudnick and Tughans. This is how it happened, right? I will put this to the board members very directly. They strike me as sensible people and they have made great play on their personal experience in the commercial world and how these things run. For me, it is astonishing that having heard the names Brown Rudnick and Tughans, no alarm bell went off and there was no worry in the board members' heads. Mr. Soffe knew, for example, that a number of the Northern Rock committee meetings had happened in Tughans. He was aware of the close relationship with Frank Cushnahan, who had an office in Tughans, and so on. When it came to the moment that the board members had to make the decision, it strikes me as almost extraordinary that nobody sat back and said they needed to wait and delve deeper. Was the question put to Cerberus in respect of Mr. Cushnahan?