Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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224. To ask the Minister for Finance if he is investigating the loss of documents related to the bank guarantee in 2009. [2866/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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My Department answered a freedom of information request received from the Deputy in December 2013 in which the Deputy sought a review of a decision in respect of an FOI received in 2009 which covered all correspondence between Minister Brian Lenihan and Chairpersons/Chief Executive Officers in those banks under the Government Guarantee Scheme for the period 1 August 2008 to 11 March 2009 as per FOI 066/2009 with a renewed assessment of whether each record could be released under FOI rules.

The Department answered the request on 5 December, 2013. In its response, the Department indicated that it could not consider whether to redact or release two of the documents as it could not locate the original copies of the documents. It did however provide the redacted copies of the correspondence along with an extract from one of the letters from the Ministerial representation system.  

I understand that the documents in question relate to correspondence between third parties with the Minister for Finance copied into the correspondence and are not directly related to the guarantee.

My Department is continuing its efforts to locate the original documents received in the department, and is also investigating whether copies are available from the original correspondents.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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225. To ask the Minister for Finance the officeholders in the previous and current Government who would have had access to the letters that cannot be found at his Department relating to the bank guarantee in 2009. [2867/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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All correspondence addressed to, or copied to the Minister of Finance, is available to the incumbent office holder of the Ministry of Finance. 

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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226. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will carry out a full audit to ascertain if any further document relating to the bank guarantee have been lost. [2868/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Department has procedures relating to records management and the maintenance of information. These procedures include additional controls related to sensitive files and documents. I am not aware of any documents in the period relating to the bank guarantee that cannot be located.  

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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227. To ask the Minister for Finance if he is confident that all information in his Department that might be relevant to a banking inquiry are still available. [2869/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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In advance of any banking inquiry, the Department has commenced a project with a view to ensuring the completeness and integrity of its records from the period. I consider that our processes ensure that relevant information can be made available where necessary.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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228. To ask the Minister for Finance the procedures that exist in his Department for the maintenance of sensitive files; if he will review these procedures in view of the loss of documents relating to the bank guarantee; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2870/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Department has procedures relating to records management. These procedures include additional controls related to sensitive files and documents. As part of the process, the section in the Department to whom the file is registered specifies whether the file should only be seen by that section. On the file tracking system the file is marked on the comment field as containing private and confidential material or secret material. These procedures are reviewed regularly.