Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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We will note the Minister's response and members can use that information in debates both now and in the future.

The next item of correspondence is from Mr. Derek Moran, Secretary General at the Department of Finance, providing a response to matters raised at the meeting in May. It is a detailed response and I thank him for it. It is a good example of being on top of one's brief, as were the representatives of the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, who were here last week. They were very professional in answering questions and the meeting went off without a hitch. I ask all Departments to follow suit in order to make life much easier both for themselves and the committee.

Parts of this response from the Department of Finance relate to the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, IBRC, which we will be discussing in private session this afternoon. Mr. Moran provides a note on the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council. He also gives details of the two sets of litigants in the cases taken regarding the liquidation of IBRC, including a note on the cost of defending these cases. He provides a history of the case taken by Mr. David Hall and also mentions that Mr. Paddy McKillen has issued a second plenary summons in relation to a different matter. That is on the public record.

Mr. Moran provides details on the advice of KPMG in relation to the IBRC liquidation, including terms of reference and dates of contact. He confirms the following: "As part of the preparatory work leading up to the Special Liquidation of IBRC, Kieran Wallace was consulted on a confidential basis as set out in the engagement letter dated 7 February 2013 between the Department of Finance and KPMG." That was around the time the special legislation went through. Mr. Moran further states: "A copy of this letter was provided to the Committee on 19 January 2018 and sets out the services provided to the Department in relation to general restructuring advice and acting as Special Liquidator."

The next issue we asked for information on was the Minister's decision not to follow the recommendation of the Committee of Public Accounts to establish a committee of inspection on IBRC. Mr. Moran gives a detailed response stating, essentially, that the purpose of a committee of inspection is to protect the unsecured creditors. He confirms that, ultimately, the only unsecured creditor in this case will be the State and that the Minister for Finance, as the shareholder, will deal with that. The Department of Finance isde facto the only unsecured creditor and Mr. Moran believes nobody else could be on an inspection committee, as there is no other unsecured creditor. Only the State and the taxpayer will be at a loss. Special legislation was enacted to set aside the normal provisions in the Companies Act because, ultimately, only one unsecured creditor was to be expected at the end of the day. It is a policy matter, as the issue arises from the legislation and that is the essence of what we will be discussing this afternoon. Our concern is the lack of oversight by the Department, which is not doing as thorough a job as a committee of inspection would normally do, as we have highlighted. It is not providing adequate resources and is only monitoring what comes in.

I will read on. A note on the Exchequer borrowing-----