Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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We will not disagree that in the case of Siteserv and other transactions, the problems came to the Department's attention after the event. This has given rise to a number of dilemmas and questions in the public mind. The Department did not fulfil the role that reasonable people would have expected from it in terms of keeping its eye on the ball. Mr. Moran argues this is because the Department was kept out of the arrangement but it seems to me that it did not assert itself in the way that would be expected. I do not buy his line that the fault was with the original framework. I appreciate that the framework was subsequently changed but that argument does not convince me.

The issues arising in respect of Siteserv came to the Department's attention because of an e-mail sent by a member of the public. In regard to the other transactions that gave rise to concern after the fact - all of these concerns emerged after the fact - I ask Mr. Moran to briefly outline to the committee how these matters came to his attention.