List of documents held back is published

A LIST of documents relating to the bank guarantee scheme that were not released by the Department of Finance was published by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday.

The committee published 54 documents it had received from the department two weeks ago but was not provided with others, often on the grounds they were subject to legal privilege.

Bernard Allen, PAC chairman and Fine Gael TD, said the committee was disappointed not to receive all the documentation it wanted, although he accepted certain documents could not be released because they contained advice from the Attorney General.

“However, I believe that copies of the letters containing the questions which prompted the advice from the Attorney General should be made freely available to the committee,” he said.

The list of unreleased documents shows they included a note, dated April 1st 2008, prepared for the then tánaiste Brian Cowen to update the Government on financial market developments. It was not released because it was subject to Cabinet confidentiality.

The notes of the Financial Regulator’s meeting with Anglo Irish Bank on September 20th, 2008, were not released on grounds of “confidential information”.

A document on the banks, prepared for an unnamed “new Minister”, dated May 7th, 2008, was not released because it contained “confidential institution-specific” information.

Mr Allen said the committee had asked the secretary general of the Department of Finance to re-examine the documents with a view to the PAC being given copies of some of them. He said the PAC needed to have all the relevant information in order to see if the taxpayer received good value.