Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It appears that the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation was the first member of the Cabinet to be made aware of the impending sale, and that the details were provided to him. Was he aware of the scale of write-down? Was he aware of how the shareholders were to be provided for? Did subsequent write-downs for companies owned by Denis O'Brien give the Minister any pause for thought? There was a write-down of €64 million in the case of Blue Ocean Associates, €150 million in the case of Topaz, €75 million in the case of Beacon Hospital and €138 million in the case of Independent News & Media. Most of those write-downs related to banks either owned or part-owned by the State. I understand why there might be limits to the interaction and role the Competition Authority can have, but were there paper walls for the Minister? Did the Minister have all of this information and did he share that information with the Minister for Finance and the rest of the Cabinet? Did the Minister see it as his responsibility to ensure that there was full disclosure and transparency regarding all of these actions?

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