Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this debate and compliment Deputy Catherine Murphy for her diligence in pursuing this matter over a considerable period. I also compliment the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, on the speed within which he put in place the relationship framework. As soon as the matter came to his attention, he revised the framework to ensure he and the Departments of Finance and Justice and Equality would be consulted in relation to the future disposal of assets. It is worth noting that the Minister did so within two weeks of the sale of Siteserv.

It is a pity that Fianna Fáil did not put in place a mechanism to ensure the Minister and Department of Finance would be consulted about the sale of substantial assets. Had it done so, all of the matters now arising would have come to the attention of the Department at an earlier stage and would have been addressed. It is important to recognise that the chairman of the board and the board, which had fiduciary responsibility in this regard, were appointed not by this Government but by the Fianna Fáil-led Administration. There is no record of anything wrong having occurred in this case. At the same time, serious questions and issues remain to be addressed and reviewed. I am delighted that a process has been put in place to review why a €150 million asset was disposed of for €45 million, which is a two third write-down, and the reason the minutes of only three of the four meetings held in March, excluding those of the meeting on 15 March, were not supplied to the Minister in April. It is incredible that should have happened. There are questions to be answered in regard to why and how this happened.

On the appointment of the special liquidator, KPMG, while I would have preferred if an alternative company had been appointed I accept that one of the benefits of appointing KPMG is its ready access to the documentation and records which will enable this matter to be dealt with rapidly, thus allowing the Minister to set the month of August as the timeframe within which the review is to be completed and a report made available. I am reassured by the appointment of former High Court judge, Mr. Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill, who is of unblemished character. However, as I said earlier I would have preferred that the review not be undertaken by the company engaged as the special liquidator for IBRC.

Regardless of what is proposed in this motion or what anybody says it would not have been possible for a commission of inquiry to report within 12 months, because as a commission of inquiry allows for lawyers to act on behalf of parties under investigation or likely to be questioned an inquiry could be delayed for a considerable period. While a commission of inquiry is laudable the proposed mechanism is the only one that ensures completion of a review and report prior to the next election. The Minister, Deputy Noonan, should be complimented on ensuring that this is the case. If we had accepted the recommendation from Deputy Fleming in relation to the establishment of a commission of inquiry there would have been no chance of us having a report until after the next election.

The Minister has indicated that he will refer the report to the relevant committees of the House. The Taoiseach previously indicated that his preference is that the matter be looked into by the Committee of Public Accounts. However, that has proven difficult. I believe it would be appropriate for the report to be referred to the Committee of Public Accounts because it has a special role in regard to the spending of taxpayers' money and any misuse or abuse in that regard is a matter of considerable relevance to it.

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