Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The matter is still being discussed by the Public Accounts Committee. I volunteered at the PAC's request to appear before it. I gave five hours of evidence and my officials and I were there for three days with innumerable hours of evidence. The matter which the newspapers are now saying will be the basis of an adverse finding against me was never raised with me in five hours of evidence. The minutes of the particular meeting were put up on the website back in 2015 by my Department. Subsequently there was a written request from the PAC for documents around that meeting and everything was supplied to it. No question was raised with me about that meeting on receipt of that set of documents.

As I understand due process, an adverse finding cannot be listed for anybody without giving them the right to reply. The meeting I had with Cerberus was not inappropriate in any way whatsoever. The PAC has legal advice saying that the functions of NAMA, the Minister and the Department were entirely different and that I had no legal right or authority to interfere with the commercial decisions of NAMA, and I did not. The minutes of the meeting are on the Internet. If what is in the newspapers is accurate, I strongly rebut this. If the PAC is now going to draw adverse conclusions about matters it never raised, after I gave five hours of evidence on a voluntary basis and was in correspondence with it subsequently, I would be very surprised it would do business in that way.