Martin raises claims of conflict of interest

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has received information alleging "significant conflicts of interest" within the wealth management unit in the Irish Banking Resolution Corporation.

Mr Martin said some of the unit’s clients had raised potential issues surrounding the fund, which had 2,500 clients and € 500 million in assets.

Speaking after a meeting with the Minister for Finance, Mr Martin said: “So significant were those conflicts of interest that a report was commissioned by William Fry Solicitors.

“William Fry Solicitors were asked to commission a report, they did and that is somewhere out there in the ether and that needs to come within the inquiry remit, and we got a very strong sense that it would be covered.”

It is understood that some clients have claimed the unit unfairly protected the bank’s interests ahead of theirs.

Mr Martin said he had not been contacted by a whistleblower, but declined to reveal his sources.

“The Minister said he would accede to my request and include the wealth management unit within the scope of the inquiry,” he said.

The main opposition parties all met Michael Noonan last night outlining their thoughts on the terms of reference of the inquiry into the IBRC.

They raised the need for an interim report to be issued within months, but Mr Noonan said this was not possible.

Committed

Mr Martin said he did not accept the legal argument put forward by the Minister, but said Mr Noonan seemed committed to issuing the findings by December.

“Precedent has shown modular reports have been produced,” he said. “I think there is scope there.”

Independent TD Catherine Murphy said she was confident that her concerns would be addressed in the terms of reference, which would be signed off on by Cabinet today.

She said she raised the department’s role in the controversy and the decision to stop the investigation at the point of IBRC’s liquidation.

Ms Murphy said she was assured those two issues would form part of the judicial inquiry. “He couldn’t give me conclusive answers because they have to go to Cabinet,” she said.

However, the Independent TD did say she didn’t expect anything glaring to be left out.

Ms Murphy said the judge could not look at every transaction and that this needed to be a manageable inquiry.

Asked if she intended to raise more concerns with regards to IBRC during the Dáil debate today, Ms Murphy said: “I haven’t put together what I am going to say. There may be things that may be knitted into my speech that I need to raise for people to understand the context of what I am saying. There may be something in that.”

Role of the Minister

According to Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald, the investigation would be worthless without examining the role of the department and the Minister.

Ms McDonald said the rollover and extension of loans and any transaction after June 2013 also needed to be included. She said the Minister listened carefully and said some of the Sinn Féin concerns were being looked at for inclusion.

“The three things I have cited are bottom lines,” Ms McDonald said. “No investigation will be credible if it excludes the Minister for Finance or the department.

“No investigation will be credible if it stops in 2013 and doesn’t consider transactions by the special liquidator thereafter. No investigation will be credible if it doesn’t explicitly include the method by which extension to loans and rollover loans were carried out.”

She said Mr Noonan had vowed to fully resource the Commission. Without the three issues she raised being incorporated into the inquiry, Sinn Féin would not have confidence in it, she said.

Renua leader Lucinda Creighton said the Minister needed to also ensure that the Dáil would not be prevented from speaking about the issue once the inquiry commenced.