Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I asked a very simple question. Is the Taoiseach saying that Government officials were not aware of any of this until this week? Why are Department of Finance officials confirming that the Minister for Finance and the Department of Finance have refused to waive their rights in relation to the release of documents? Will the Taoiseach please explain why the Department of Finance is doing that? It was confirmed by its officials yesterday. In that very decision, clearly being aware that this was an issue for some time, the former IBRC chairman, Alan Dukes, is confirming he discussed it with the chairman of the investigation two months ago.

On 22 August, an articleon these issues was published in The Irish Times. Did the Attorney General, in her advice to Government, flag this issue with the Taoiseach at any stage prior to the establishment of the commission of investigation?

There must have been advice at that stage, so will the Taoiseach now publish it? It seems incredible - it does not seem credible - that these substantive issues were not raised with the Government and the Taoiseach in advance of the setting up of the commission of investigation. That would seem to have been a major omission.

Fundamentally, is the Taoiseach saying to me categorically that no officials in either the Department of Finance, the Department of the Taoiseach or elsewhere were aware of this issue prior to this week? Can the Taoiseach clarify that?

Why has the Department of Finance refused to waive its rights? We have an extraordinary situation, it seems, from the evidence of Mr. Dukes, whereby KPMG, a State-appointed liquidator to the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, is claiming privilege over these documents, as is the Department of Finance. This relates to the activities of a State bank handling assets belonging to the people and involving write-offs concerning the people.

The public generally will be looking at this with the view that when it comes to the powerful and wealthy the Government never really goes too far with the inquiries. That is a problem in terms of the public's perception of how obstacle after obstacle can be put in the way of getting to some truths about basic issues raised. These issues were first seriously alerted to the public, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance by senior civil servants in the Department of Finance. It was not media hype, as some would suggest. It was done by senior civil servants in the Department of Finance. They flagged real concerns to the Minister, Deputy Noonan, some time back on the sale of Siteserv and the sale of other assets. However, the Government chose to do nothing about those concerns until it was forced into the open through freedom of information requests. That is the sad reality. The Government was dragged kicking and screaming to where we are today. Again, we are empty-handed in terms of any succour for the general public and their wish to know what went on.

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