Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

That is significant. I do not know whether Deputy Martin took much interest when the construction industry and many major businesses collapsed. I do not know the detailed background to the Siteserv but presume the company was among many construction companies and trades, allied to construction, that ended up with unsustainable debt and, therefore, ended up, in Deputy Martin's time in government, under the remit of IBRC. That is all I am saying to the Deputy. It was his Government's policies that led to what occurred, not only to Siteserv but also many others.

The Deputy has made a case with which the Minister for Finance and I agree, because when the officials in the Department of Finance brought concerns to the Minister's attention, there was in place, as the Deputy knows, a relationships framework that was put together by the late Brian Lenihan, the former Minister for Finance. The current Minister, Deputy Michael Noonan, expressly undertook to inquire into the concerns raised by the officials in the Department. Siteserv was one of many companies in severe financial meltdown and crisis. I presume the review by KPMG from January 2011, in the overall context of IBRC and the disaster that was Anglo Irish Bank, was an attempt to determine what could be salvaged from the company, particularly the jobs of people employed in it-----

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