Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute on this debate on the Siteserv scandal. Once again, we have a detailed and comprehensive report that outlines dubious and poor practices and conduct in the performance by certain elements of corporate Ireland ten years ago during the banking crisis. As Deputy Bríd Smith pointed out, the legacy of that crisis is unfortunately still with us.

I welcome the publication, belated as it is, of the report and thank Mr. Justice Brian Cregan for his hard work. I agree with his findings, and it is now up to the statutory bodies - the Revenue Commissioners, the Corporate Enforcement Authority and the IBRC special liquidators - to follow up on his comprehensive report.

Many people have been let down by the performance, first among them the taxpayer. We are potentially down €7.8 million already but, as the Taoiseach outlined, there is at least €12 million on top of that. The costs will be multiples of that amount by the time they are determined by Mr. Justice Cregan. The taxpayer has been let down.

Second, corporate Ireland has been let down. There are many good executives and hard-working business managers who behaved ethically throughout. Unfortunately, they are branded with the same brush. Anchorage, the underbidder for Siteserv, described in some of its correspondence that interacting with corporate Ireland was like working with a banana republic or one of the "stans". That is certainly not the image we want to portray of our modern republic.

Third, the thousands of people who worked so hard in Siteserv were let down by some of their senior executives.

On a positive note, at least we can draw some comfort from the finding that IBRC acted in good faith. The chief financial officer comes out of this report quite well. It found that he conducted himself correctly and properly throughout the process and he had no prior knowledge of the under-the-surface behaviour. I was struck by how he declined legal representation at the commission's oral representations because he had nothing to hide and he wanted to reduce the liability on the taxpayer. That should be commended.

This point lends itself neatly to what I want to say lastly on the cost of the inquiry. It will cost tens of millions of euro and has lasted seven years. I agree with the Taoiseach that we must devise a better system, one that allows for statutory inquiries to be done more swiftly and more cost effectively.

I welcome the report and agree with its findings. I look forward to a follow-up investigation by the Corporate Enforcement Authority and the Revenue Commissioners to ensure that those who have had adverse findings made against them are held accountable for their actions.

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