Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Martin for his question. The bank that was Anglo Irish Bank was the rotten carcase that brought down this country, costing the taxpayer €34 billion. I might add that not one cent was put into it by this Government. The Deputy has asked a number of important questions. The situation was that the actions that were concluded by the board of IBRC were concluded under the old framework agreement, which was set up by Deputy Martin's own Government and its Minister for Finance. The current Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, has been very clear in his comment on this that he himself had concerns about decision-making in IBRC, particularly regarding transactions such as the Siteserv company sale. The Minister met the chairman of IBRC and was assured by him that the board, which was appointed by the Government of which Deputy Martin was a member, had reviewed the process and that it was in the best interest of the taxpayer. There was a further series of issues so the Minister met the chairman and chief executive. He had the then Secretary General of the Department of Finance examine this issue further. He also seconded a senior civil servant into IBRC and changed the relationship framework that had been introduced by the late Minister, Mr. Brian Lenihan, and made it mandatory for IBRC to notify the Department of Finance of any significant transactions. When the Minister made all the relevant inquiries, he was satisfied the course of action he took in regard to Siteserv was sufficient.

Critical representations were made following the transaction and Department of Finance officials inquired into that transaction with IBRC management as part of their regular engagement. Following initial discussions, they agreed with IBRC's chairman and CEO, on 31 May 2012, that they would review the transaction involving Siteserv in greater detail to better understand the decisions taken and the impact these decisions had on the process and the final recovery for the bank. On 11 June 2012, following the review, the Department of Finance officials were concerned that IBRC had decided to allow Siteserv to control the sales process rather than itself acting in a primary role in that transaction. In light of those concerns, the shareholding management unit of the Department of Finance recommended that the chairman of IBRC commission an independent review of the transaction, and this was included in a briefing note which was given to the Minister prior to his meeting with the chairman and chief executive.

On 25 July 2012, the Minister met IBRC's chairman and chief executive to discuss those concerns regarding this transaction, which were raised with him-----

See this speech in context