John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

No. 3C is documents related to today's meeting. Nos. 3C.1 and 3C.3 are the opening statement and presentation for today's second session. All of these are to be noted and published.

Regarding No. 3C, the documents for today's meeting, at 9 p.m. last night, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, wrote to the committee and presented 41 documents running to hundreds of pages, which relate to the NAMA Northern Ireland advisory committee and the interaction between the Ministers here and in Northern Ireland dealing with the NAMA issues. The clerk to the committee received no advance notice that such information was being made available. The release of the information on the eve of the committee meeting with NAMA and, more important, with the chairman of a delegation from the Northern Ireland finance committee, is deeply frustrating and works against all principles of good accountability. I am sure the members would not have had the opportunity to review the documents, which is a pity, given that we are entering public session and the documents are laid before us. The documentation will be available on screen, should the members wish to refer to any of the documents during the course of their contributions.