Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We could not make this up. It is wrong. Will the Taoiseach call it as wrong? Does he think it was right that the €5 million payment should have been made? Will the Taoiseach give me a straight answer to this question? Why did the Minister not do what his officials wanted done and establish an independent review of the transaction? That is all the civil servants wanted. The framework document the Taoiseach spoke about was finished, and the bank and board were told by Department of Finance officials that they must operate as if it were in place. DG Competition and the troika had asked for a new framework and there is no issue with that. There were 30 drafts and it was going on and on. In fact, officials were very afraid that IBRC was delaying signing off and all of the documents show this. This is well understood. It is not politics but stuff going on between the officials and IBRC. The essential point is an independent review of the transaction. The officials were raising alarm bells of a very serious nature with the Minister-----

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