Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Who has authority over the special liquidator? The Minister for Finance has ordered the liquidator to produce evidence and files in respect of all transactions over €10 million from 2009 to February 2013, inclusive. That is much broader than the Siteserv sale. Clearly, the appointment of Mr. Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill is designed to cover the element of the review that will determine where there is any evidence of material deficiencies in IBRC's performance in respect of those transactions, related activities and management decisions, as well as whether it can be concluded that transactions were not commercially sound. With respect to the issues about the sale of Siteserv and others, all the information will be brought to the Minister before the end of the August. It will be brought to this House and the Committee of Public Accounts and others can have their views on it.

I have already stated that if the Committee of Public Accounts considers there is a further necessity to examine any of these matters, the Government is prepared and happy to amend the law so that the Comptroller and Auditor General, with his independence, can look at this. I remind the Deputy that the IBRC board has defended its analysis and the Central Bank has examined these questions. There is a review ongoing, which will lead, if necessary, to a further completely independent and objective analysis. I say this as if the Government decided to have a commission of investigation, the Deputy would paint slogans outside the Dáil gates and argue that we are afraid to tell the truth and provide evidence or facts. That is why with this system, all these necessary pieces of information can be made available to the public. That is the interest of the Government with respect to the taxpayer.

With regard to the Deputy's final comment, we cannot forget about the promissory notes. Perhaps the Deputy does not understand how that issue affected every single person in the country, as the Government was required by the gross incompetence of our predecessors to borrow €3.1 billion every year to pay the interest on the Anglo Irish Bank debt, whose rotten carcass was eliminated by this Government.

See this speech in context