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

One of the difficulties I and many citizens have is the relationship between these large businesses and Fine Gael and other political parties in the State. It is a responsibility of Cabinet Ministers to fully exhaust the public good with regard to their engagements with these interactions. We know that officials in the Department of Finance had serious concerns about the Siteserv deal and that the relationship between the Department and the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, IBRC, had become toxic, with the former chairman of the IBRC endeavouring to terminate the secondment of senior Department officials to that State-owned bank. After many parliamentary questions from Deputy Catherine Murphy and other Deputies we are aware that there were major difficulties in that Department with the process. Why was it that the Minister, when presiding over such an unusual, strange, difficult and costly transaction, was satisfied so easily with the information he received? Were the Minister's instincts not to seek to exhaust, to the full extent, the questions citizens would have pertaining to these deals?

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