Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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130. To ask the Minister for Finance if he is concerned by the recent findings of the Report of the Commission of Investigation IBRC that a senior official at his Department made an unauthorised disclosure of confidential information regarding the sale process for an organisation (details supplied); if he believes that it is appropriate that the same official now represents the State’s interest in relation to the liquidation of IBRC in their role as head of the shareholding and financial advisory division at his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46207/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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On 7 September, the Taoiseach published the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation (IBRC) on the transaction in relation to Siteserv and the principles and policies within IBRC on interest rates. This extensive report outlined the transaction, makes various adverse findings against individuals and made various recommendations.

I note that the Report refers to an individual who has been working in the Department of Finance since November 2013, but who, 11 years ago, worked in Davy, which was one of the financial advisers to Siteserv. It was a function of the Davy adviser to encourage credible bidders for the company in order to maximise the sale price, thereby minimising losses to IBRC and ultimately to the State.

The Commission found that this individual made an unauthorised disclosure of confidential information regarding the sale process however there is no suggestion that the individual concerned disclosed the information for any personal gain or for any reason other than to enhance the sale process in which he was engaged. Aspects of the confidential information in question were provided to all bidders in the Siteserv sale process, as was always the intention.

The disclosure of confidential information by the Davy adviser to an individual which the Commission states he trusted, and which was subsequently transmitted without his knowledge, does not form part of the findings outlined by the Commission in Chapter 22 regarding the commercial soundness of the Siteserv transaction.