Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It was the previous Friday. Why does somebody not discontinue the case or go to somebody to mediate and say, "Let us do a deal here"? These people are not looking for compensation or money, to the best of my knowledge. I have read the statement of claim for one of them. I was not aware of the others. Nobody I am aware of is looking to make money here. They are looking for the same thing we are looking for - oversight. Obviously, I can understand that the State cannot be a soft touch. If somebody was looking to take action against the State for financial gain, of course, that is a matter for the courts to decide and we must issue a defence. However, what we are fighting here is two people privately looking for the same thing that the Committee of Public Accounts is looking for, which is, oversight and transparency on the most expensive liquidation in the history State, at €306 million. To date, €150 million has been paid in fees - for example, €144.9 million to KPMG up to December 2018, €35.8 million to A and L Goodbody, and €20.2 million to Linklaters. Maybe everything has been done right, but we would like to know. We will not until it is all over. I am concerned that the people are not getting value for money. I am also concerned that two or three staff in the Department is not sufficient.