Legal advice sees PAC abandon meeting with Department of Finance officials

The Public Accounts Committee has been forced to abandon a meeting with officials from the Department of Finance - after legal advice from its own lawyers.

TDs were due to meet senior civil servants to correct the record after the discovery of lost documents relating to the sale of SiteServ by IBRC.

However, the committee was given legal advice saying any discussion could compromise the Commission of Investigation which is now looking into matters relating to IBRC.

That is despite the Department of Finance having separate legal advice which said there should be no problem in returning to the committee to correct the record.