Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I want to come in on it and reinforce the point. It is very unsatisfactory that this is still going on. I echo the points made about the person taking the case. He is trying to achieve exactly the same thing we would want to achieve by having the kind of oversight which has been suggested. It is unusual for the Department of Finance to be the supervisor in a liquidation. Notwithstanding the size of the liquidation, if I recall correctly one or two people in the Department were supervising it. This was Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society and we all know the cost that has had to be carried following the collapse and the assumption of the debt by the State. The idea that there is no full scrutiny or full visibility on the scrutiny is completely unacceptable. I am concerned that this is not only adding to the costs, but that there is delay. All year, assets are being disposed of and, as this goes on, the problem is reinforced. There was a very poor relationship between the Department of Finance and IBRC before the liquidation. The rules around how assets are sold changed post liquidation but I want to see, as a member of the committee and as a citizen, exactly how that is working. It is completely unsatisfactory. When Deputy MacSharry raised this first, it was simply a question of asking whether we could have a conversation and to see if it would be possible in terms of the court case. That was months ago.