Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach did not answer my question on the advice the Attorney General gave him. He promised a democratic revolution and said he would do things differently, not like his predecessor. It is obvious he did not mean any of that because since he has become Taoiseach every time there has been a conflict between the elites and golden circles and citizens, he has taken the side of the elites and golden circles.

I asked him to repeat his earlier statement because he said that the judge had made a judicial determination on the admissibility of documents from the Department of Finance. Does that mean that the commission could not obtain or examine documents? Does it mean that if he is making a judicial determination about this matter that he brought this to the attention of the Department of Finance? It clearly knew that there was a problem.

The Taoiseach is only now addressing the issue when everything has been forced upon him by the judge in charge of the commission writing a letter, which was subsequently leaked to the media. It appears that, whatever about any speculation on any other issue, that this happened on foot of KPMG not making documentation available to the commission of investigation. KPMG had a role in the sale of Siteserv and other assets. He also knows that KPMG was the first choice of the Government to conduct a review of IBRC transactions, even though it was involved in them. At the bottom of all of this are the millions of euro that are going into the pockets of the elites and out of the pockets of taxpayers.

The Taoiseach has fudged the issue. He claimed, in his usual obtuse and opaque way, that he only knew about this last week on receipt of the letter from the commission. A Government spokesperson is quoted in, I understand,The Irish Timesas dismissing these concerns as early as mid-September. The Government was aware of them. Why did the Taoiseach wait until his hand was forced today?

See this speech in context