Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

Is the Taoiseach not aware, for example, that the Irish Banking Federation, in an explicit statement to the Department of Finance described as a "confidential submission", argued strenuously that the FOI Act should not apply to NAMA? There was no reference whatsoever to freedom of information in the legislation presented regarding NAMA. We had to depend on a query under the FOI Act to even know that such a submission had been received in the first place and this was exposed last month. It strikes me as strange that the Taoiseach would not know this because it is not an unimportant matter.

We are looking for transparency surely. I thought the collective objective in matters pertaining to banking institutions and their management and conduct is that we would have complete transparency but, only for the FOI query, we would not have known. If that evidence had not been exposed last month, the Taoiseach's reply would have scotched the very notion. That is most unsatisfactory. There was an extensive lobby of the Department of Finance on the part of banking interests through the Irish Banking Federation. Is the Taoiseach indicating to the House that he had no knowledge of that matter at any time, that the Minister for Finance did not discuss this matter with him at any time and that, up to my tabling the question this afternoon, he had no knowledge whatsoever that there had been such a lobby to hold NAMA out from under the scrutiny of the FOI Acts? These are important matters and they require an indication on the Taoiseach's part that he is willing, at the very least, to ensure the same scrutiny that applies to employees in his Department applies to the management-administration of NAMA, if not the business itself. It should apply to the business also, but the Taoiseach is not of a mind to do so.

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