Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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67. To ask the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to potential conflicts of interest, which existed at the time of the sale, by the former Irish Bank Resolution Corporation of an entity (details supplied); specifically if his attention has been drawn to the fact that agents contracted by the corporation to execute the sale also held significant interests in the entity being sold, that the legal advisors on the sale were acting for both the vendor and purchaser in the transaction, and that the reported agreed sale terms included a large payment to the board of the entity being sold and whose votes were obviously required to approve the sale; if so, his views that this presents an alarming set of circumstances to an entity tasked with protecting the taxpayers' interests; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10704/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, a Relationship Framework dated 8th July 2009 was in place at the time the Board of IBRC approved the sale of the company referred to in the question. Under this Relationship Framework, the Board of IBRC were required to engage with the Minister for Finance on certain key issues which included "any material acquisitions, disposals, investments, realisations or other transactions, other than in the ordinary course of Anglo Irish Bank's banking business." It should be noted that this Relationship Framework did not include any specific monetary thresholds which would trigger mandatory consultation with the Minister for Finance. It should also be noted, that at that time, the ordinary course of the Bank's business was to conduct an orderly run-down and ultimate liquidation of the Bank. As such, IBRC's efforts, as a secured lender, to maximise the recovery on its loans to the company referred to in the question was considered to be in the ordinary course of business. For that reason, and under the Relationship Framework in place at that time, IBRC were not required to consult with the Minister for Finance on this matter in advance of making the decision to approve the sale of the company referred to in the question.

Upon the receipt of critical representations following the transaction, Department of Finance officials inquired about the transaction with IBRC management as part of their regular engagement.  Following initial discussions, they agreed with IBRC's Chairman and CEO that they would review the transaction involving the company referred to in the question in greater detail to better understand the decisions taken and the impact these decisions had on the process and the final recovery for the bank.

Through this review, Department of Finance officials were made aware of certain aspects of the transaction which raised concerns with the quality of some of the decisions taken in respect of this transaction, including, among others, that legal advisors to the company referred to in the question had also acted for the purchaser, that a payment had been paid to the shareholders of the company referred to in the question, that some of those shareholders were members of the Board of the company referred to in the question and that a significant proportion of those shareholders appeared to be clients of the financial advisor on the transaction to the company referred to in the question.

In light of these concerns, I subsequently met with IBRC's Chairman and CEO to discuss concerns regarding this transaction.  The Chairman and CEO confirmed to me  the legal advice was provided by two different teams within the law firm concerned and that appropriate Chinese walls were in place between the two teams.  They also assured me that the payment to shareholders was necessary to ensure a vote in favour of the deal .  They further assured me that the transaction had been thoroughly assessed by the IBRC Board and that the transaction was managed in the best manner possible to achieve the best result for the State.