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

I propose to take questions Nos. 1 to 5, inclusive, together.

My Department received the report of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, IBRC, commission of investigation on the Siteserv transaction on 29 July 2022. I arranged for it to be published and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas on 7 September 2022, following consultation with the Attorney General.

The commission's report is more than 1,500 pages long and goes through all aspects of the Siteserv transaction in an extraordinary level of detail as well as making extensive findings of fact. The report shines a light on unacceptable practices by certain parties during the course of the transaction and the Government noted its findings with considerable concern.

Among the many findings made by the commission in its report, it determined that it could be concluded that the Bank made its decision to approve the sale of Siteserv in good faith, but based on misleading and incomplete information provided to it by the company. The commission also determined that it can be concluded that the Siteserv transaction was, from the perspective of the bank, so tainted by impropriety and wrongdoing, that the transaction was not commercially sound.

The commission also found that the procedures and controls that were operated by IBRC at the relevant relating to the Siteserv transaction were fit for purpose. It also found there is no evidence that any unusual trading in Siteserv shares occurred. The commission also established the approach taken by the IBRC concerning the setting of interest rates for individual loans and how those decisions were reached, and made no adverse findings.

The commission recommended that the report be brought to the attention of relevant authorities concerning a number of taxation, company law and bankruptcy issues. Accordingly, as per the commission's recommendations and on foot of advice from the Attorney General, I have brought the report to the attention of the Revenue Commissioners, the special liquidators of the IBRC, the Corporate Enforcement Authority, the Central Bank and the official assignee in a bankruptcy case. These bodies are now responsible for conducting any appropriate investigations on foot of the report.

See this speech in context