Government 'absolutely committed' to resolving delay in IBRC inquiry

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has vowed to give a judge the powers he needs to investigate asset sales by the rebranded Anglo Irish Bank.

The commitment was given after Judge Brian Cregan warned in a letter to the Taoiseach last Friday he was “not in a position to proceed” with the audit of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation deals which involved a write-off.

One of the sales being probed is billionaire Denis O’Brien’s purchase of Siteserv which involved a writedown of €119m.

Following talks with David Cameron in Downing Street, the Taoiseach said he had sought advice from Attorney General Maire Whelan on new laws or powers for a judge heading up a Commission of Investigation.

It is understood the judge’s concerns relate to whether he can handle confidential documents linked to business deals.

Mr Kenny said: “The Government are absolutely committed here, in the strongest possible way, to see that this matter is dealt with clearly, transparently and in an absolutely accountable fashion.

“The judge has identified what he considers are a deficiency in his powers. I need to know what that actually means because I intend to address it.”

Mr Kenny said the Government was “absolutely committed” to resolving the confidentiality issue “completely and comprehensively in the shortest possible time” with the input of other political parties and leaders.

Mr Kenny said he only found out the investigation had stalled last Thursday. Finance Minister Michael Noonan said the same.

Read:

Read More:

Noonan: Government department did not refuse to hand documents to IBRC inquiry

The Taoiseach also expressed confidence in the Attorney General.

The former directors of Anglo Irish Bank say their good names are being prejudiced by developments surrounding the inquiry into IBRC.

In a statement, the bank's former chairman Alan Dukes and his fellow directors say "not a single shred of evidence has been produced" to back up allegations made against them.

Parliamentary questions, led by Social Democrat TD Catherine Murphy, were asked for several months over the sale of Siteserv.

Documents released by the Department of Finance – only discovered and released at the same time as the announcement of the inquiry – revealed the sale went through in March 2012 with a debt write-off worth €119m. The figure was previously thought to be about €100m.

There have been claims that Siteserv shareholders earned €5m in the deal despite the company being on the verge of going bust, and that the winning bid was not the highest on the table.

It was one of 40 sales of assets or loans by Anglo to be examined under Judge Cregan’s inquiry covering the time from the rogue lender’s nationalisation on January 21, 2009 until when the liquidation was ordered in February 2013.

Ms Murphy said she reasons questions in the Dail about the inquiry being hamstrung but they were ruled out of order.

In a statement, the Department of Finance insisted it had fully co-operated with the judge-led investigation.

“Core documents held by the department which have been requested by the IBRC Commission of Investigation have been sent,” a spokesman said.

“This exercise is ongoing and is expected to be fully completed by this Friday. For the avoidance of doubt, no redactions have been made to any documents provided.”

Ms Murphy said the stalling of the inquiry was a fiasco.

“At the outset there was much cynicism in the public domain about how serious Government were in seeking answers and whether or not the commission was being used simply to kick the issues to touch. The revelations over the weekend would certainly seem to support that view,” she said.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin said the IBRC inquiry was a mess and “entirely consistent” with the Government’s handling of the issue.

“Since the first claims emerged about special deals being done by IBRC, the Government has been deeply uncomfortable. At every stage of the process that brought us to this point, they have had to be dragged kicking and screaming,” Mr Martin said.

The Opposition leader said the breakdown in the investigation sparks very serious questions about why it did not have the necessary powers.

Mr Martin said: “There is also a general unease that something as fundamental as the judge’s lack of power to do what he was asked, has only emerged at this late stage.”

Sinn Fein Finance Spokesman Pearse Doherty said it was not credible for the Government to claim it only became aware of the issues late last week.

“Only now, when the Government’s hand has been forced by the letter from the judge in charge of the inquiry, has the Taoiseach acted to get legal advice,” Mr Doherty said.

“Claims that the Government only found out about the legal difficulties last week have no shred of credibility and are completely disingenuous.”

Mr Doherty added: “It seems that the lessons have not been learned and, if the Government continues with this attitude, we could end up in the farcical situation where we need to establish an inquiry to find out why the original inquiry was allowed to collapse.”