Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the decision to commission a full inquiry investigation into IBRC transactions, even if it is belated at this stage after certain matters were comprehensively brought to the attention of the public stage by Deputy Catherine Murphy on numerous occasions. The terms of reference have certainly been expanded and significantly extended by comparison with the original KPMG inquiry that was sanctioned. In their current format, the terms of reference cover all aspects of the various dealings. It is imperative that this report will be finalised before the end of the year. We hope that will happen because the general public, like everyone in here who was elected by the public, is waiting in anticipation. The other thing that should be mentioned is that at this stage, the general public is fairly punch-drunk following a whole plethora of investigations and tribunals and a whole spate of State investigations in recent years.

Almost all the inquiries featured golden circles, cronyism and greed, which has been rampant as people manipulated taxpayers' money. These people were self-centred. The general public is battered and bewildered. It is disgusted by the revelations alleged against the banks, big businesses and people carrying out their duties in a manner that would normally qualify as unorthodox and unethical. There is plenty of material to verify this. These people manipulated to gain the maximum out of the system. For a long time before the Minister’s appointment this bloody system was short on regulation. There was very lax, poor or no regulation. Regulators were brushed aside or seemed to go into hiding. The shortage of enforcement compared with international standards makes us the laughing stock in the outside world.

It is obvious that we have not learned from, or paid any heed to, the previous major banking scandals and their catastrophic effect on Irish society. It is mind-boggling for the general public to accept the revelations here, the huge scale of the write-downs, which were approved by the IBRC, the involvement of individuals and their agent companies. In many cases, there is evidence to show a very strong conflict of interests, double standards and manipulation of finances by these people out of greed and self-interest.

The IBRC has sanctioned over 40 write-downs for these big businesses and for a select group of individuals who received a combined write-off of debts of up to €1.25 million. That figure may emanate from the Department of Finance, or from the Minister. It is all the harder for the general public to accept, digest and tolerate this when at the other end of the scale the ordinary householders, who we meet every day in our clinics and when we carry out our duties as public representatives, are in a sorry state. They are devastated and, in some cases, families are on the point of breaking up. Some people have serious health problems while others have lost their jobs. I hope the Minister will make proper provision for the banks to ease this burden because people deserve a break from the layers of austerity and tough measures they are enduring.

Up to 10,000 houses are in danger of being repossessed or of suffering severe additional penalties because the IBRC has sold them off to vulture capital funds. They have no mortgage protection because the mortgages are outside the control of the Central Bank. This is symptomatic of the rough treatment inflicted on the majority of the public. The elite is getting preferential treatment at the expense of those ordinary people.

Major tensions existed between the IBRC and the Department of Finance, which went far beyond the original issue of Siteserv. I will not blame the Minister because there is a legacy matter involved. The engagement between the two organisations went so low that at one stage the Minister said following the Siteserv sale there was a serious problem and he was not confident of reporting the IBRC’s affairs to the Dáil. This signifies a lack of information and maybe a lack of stewardship by the Minister’s officials and advisers. That is a matter to be clarified. It is not good enough that matters were not properly reported to the Minister and that there was not proper communication. That is very undesirable.

One the controversies concerning the IBRC and the Department is the way it conducted several other deals such as pay deals and appointments at the bank and how it handled major borrowers. It appears that matters came to a head at a meeting in July, which the Minister and his senior officials, the chairman of the bank, Alan Dukes, and the chief executive officer, Mike Aynsley, attended. The major issues of concern to the Department included the sale of a high profile residential block in New York. One IBRC staff member raised questions about the appointment of the US firm, Blackstone, to sell the big assets without following proper procedures. There appears to be a web of questionable activities and conflicts of interest.

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