Minister denies EU officials are based in his department

MINISTER for Finance Brian Lenihan has rejected claims that there are any European Commission or European Central Bank officials based in his department “on a permanent or any other basis”, to oversee financial matters.

“There are no commission officials in my department on a permanent or any other basis. They do not have offices or regular spaces in my department. That does not exist.”

Mr Lenihan also said the European Central Bank “does not purchase debt directly from governments but does so only, and on a limited basis, in secondary markets”.

He stressed and repeated that the total turnover in Irish Government bonds since July was €50 billion and that the ECB’s total purchase across all euro sovereign bonds was about €3.7 billion.

Fine Gael finance spokesman Michael Noonan had asked if there had been discussions with the ECB about buying Government bonds in the new year. Mr Lenihan pointed out that 84 per cent of Ireland’s bonds “are held by international investors” so the issue of talks “does not arise and has not arisen”.

Referring to employees in his department, he said: “Neither the European Central Bank nor the commission has staff permanently attached or permanently present in my department and there is no permanent facility for their accommodation in my department.”

Mr Lenihan was responding to the Labour Party’s finance spokeswoman Joan Burton who asked: “How many members of the staff of the commission are in the department on a temporary or daily basis overseeing Irish budgetary and financial matters?”

Ms Burton said that when the Labour Party met European commissioner Olli Rehn in Dublin on Tuesday, he introduced them “to a gentleman who was on his delegation and is clearly one of the leading persons dealing with the Minister’s staff” on the “preparation of the forthcoming budget. He was a tall gentleman with glasses, from Hungary I believe.”

The Minister retorted that Ms Burton had publicly “suggested that there is a Hungarian employed in the department”. When Ms Burton said she had not used the word “employed”, Mr Lenihan said “he is an EU national and he is part of Commissioner Rehn’s staff. He is not part of the complement of the department of finance”.

Mr Lenihan said the commissioner had to deal with 27 member states and it was “natural and understandable that he has a particular official who helps him liaise with the Irish position”.

He said Mr Rehn “out of courtesy” informed Ms Burton who that was. “There are officials who advise him on Slovenian matters, Slovakian matters, German matters and French matters.”