Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On 4 March 2015, I next answered a parliamentary question on the relationship framework that was in place when the sale of Siteserv took place. On 26 March 2015, I next answered three parliamentary questions on Siteserv in which I detailed meetings held between my Department and IBRC on Siteserv and also around the steps that were taken when reports of certain details around the transaction came to the attention of my Department. A further 30 parliamentary questions have been answered by me since 1 April 2015 up to 30 April 2015 on Siteserv and details relating to the transaction.

Returning to the period when the deal was first brought to my attention and that of my officials, as my officials became aware of reports of certain aspects of the Siteserv transaction in April and May 2012, they inquired about the 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 the Department would review the available information on 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. This review by Department of Finance officials took place on 11 June 2012. Through this review, Department of Finance officials became concerned with certain aspects of the transaction. Details of the concerns were set out in the memos and briefing notes that have been released under recent freedom of information requests and which are available on the Department of Finance website.

Following this review, on the 25 July 2012, I met with IBRC's chairman and CEO to discuss, among other things, the concerns regarding this transaction which were raised following Department engagement with IBRC management. At this meeting, the chairman provided me with strong assurances that the transaction had been thoroughly assessed by the IBRC board and that the board of IBRC was satisfied that the transaction was managed in the best manner possible to achieve the best result for the State. It should be noted that the IBRC board had a fiduciary responsibility to the bank's stakeholders and so, in light of this legal responsibility, the chairman and the board would have considered and provided such assurances following serious and careful consideration. I accepted these assurances from the chairman of IBRC. However, as is also evidenced in the information released under freedom of information, engagement continued between Department of Finance officials and senior management of IBRC to improve upon the working relationship with IBRC and to help protect against such concerns arising in the future, including the implementation of the revised relationship framework and the secondment of a senior Department of Finance official to IBRC as a senior executive to facilitate IBRC's ongoing deleveraging. The senior official remained seconded to IBRC until the liquidation of the bank in February 2013.

Furthermore, in light of the recent concerns raised before the Houses of the Oireachtas and elsewhere regarding the Siteserv transaction and the public discourse this has caused surrounding the handling of other transactions undertaken by IBRC, I have directed the special liquidators of IBRC to review certain transactions which occurred between 21 January 2009, the date of the nationalisation of IBRC, and 7 February 2013, the date of the appointment of the special liquidators to IBRC.

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