Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The people who are listening in to this are seeing their money being frittered away; they are seeing the way the Government responds to these issues and seeing the way the Minister has refused to deal with the very simple straightforward proposition from Sinn Féin to amend the terms of reference. Let me make it clear to the Minister that it is totally and absolutely unacceptable. Deputy Pearse Doherty made it clear yesterday that he was reading that section into the record of the House to point out one of the transactions which was being claimed had taken place in order that the Government would change the terms of reference. The Government has not changed the terms of reference. However, this is in line with the Government's refusal to deal properly with these issues of major public concern, despite them being brought to its attention for more than three years.

Another example is the mystery of the missing minutes and the Minister for Finance's failure thus far to explain when he was first alerted to the sale of Siteserv. Did the Minister for Jobs, Innovation and Enterprise, Deputy Bruton, know of the sale of Siteserv before the Minister for Finance? Sinn Féin has uncovered via a freedom of information request that the issue of Millington's purchase of Siteserv was reported to the Competition Authority on 16 March 2012 and reported to the Minister, Deputy Bruton, in correspondence from the Competition Authority on 20 March 2012 and on 21 May 2012. This issue was already a matter of major public concern. On 17 March 2012, Fiona Reddan, writing in The Irish Times, drew attention to Siteserv being sold to Denis O'Brien for €45 million in cash with a loss to the taxpayer of €105 million and an award of almost €5 million to Siteserv executives and shareholders. Why was the Government not alert to these issues, especially when it was being brought, along with all of this, to the Government's attention by the Minister's own officials? Was the Minister aware of the Siteserv deal before the Minister for Finance knew? I ask him to please tell us when the Minister for Finance became aware of this deal.

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