DÁIL PRIVILEGE ROW: ‘When I tried to raise the matter... I was silenced’

Catherine Murphy’s claims that Denis O’Brien enjoyed unusually low interest rates on his IBRC loans came as she put forward draft legislation that would allow the Comptroller and Auditor General to investigate the bank.

This follows Finance Minister Michael Noonan’s decision in April to order a review of all IBRC deals, including the 2012 sale of Siteserv to a company owned by Denis O’Brien.

The sale is controversial because Siteserv was sold for €45.4m in a deal that saw IBRC write off €110m of the company’s €150m debt. A Siteserv subsidiary later won an Irish Water metering contract. Ms Murphy produced evidence that Department of Finance officials had concerns about the sale.