Attorney General set to publish contracts report

The Attorney General's report on the awarding of contracts to run the national aquatic centre will be published today, the Tánaiste told the Dáil.

Ms Harney said the Government had responded to a request for a copy of the report from parties mentioned in it. "They have been given until tomorrow to respond. Following their response, the report will be published, minus the legal advice from the Attorney General." Replying to Opposition questions on yesterday's order of business, Ms Harney repeated her concerns about the way in which the issue was handled.

"My concerns relate to the fact that appropriate processes and procedures were not in place for the expenditure of huge sums of public money.

"This was a 30-year contract awarded to a company which had no trading record, which was a requirement, and when the Government made decisions on this matter, it did not have the fullest information it was entitled to." Amid sharp exchanges, Mr Louis Belton (FG, Longford-Roscommon) remarked: "Only for The Irish Times there would not be a word out of you."

The Fine Gael deputy leader, Mr Jim Mitchell, accused the PDs of covering up for Fianna Fáil.

The Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, said claims had been made by unsuccessful tenderers for the project, and in particular one made on a radio programme, that the closing date was on a Friday and the successful tender was awarded on the following Monday.

It would have been impossible, on any practical evaluation, for those assessing the project to have adequately assessed the competing bid with the boxes of supporting documentation over a weekend when effectively the people involved were not working.

"This is beginning to look like a scandal. It is beginning to smell like a scandal. The longer the Taoiseach tries to keep the lid on it, and tries to maintain a situation where the House is not fully informed, the more the public will worry."

The Labour leader, Mr Ruairí Quinn, asked: "When will the game of political pass the parcel end, and is the Tanáiste's concern at this stage simply to ensure that there will be no PD hands near the parcel when it explodes?"

Ms Harney said the Government was entitled to the fullest information and it did not have it.

Mr Noonan said it was a disgrace that the Government would make decisions without having full information. "That is what the Government is about, to make decisions on the basis of full information."

Ms Harney said they knew that on four different occasions the Government was not given the information at the time it requested appropriate information.

• The Tánaiste has asked the company law review group to re- examine the law in relation to the beneficial ownership of shares and share capital in companies.

Ms Harney announced the "priority" review as Fine Gael claimed there was a "banana republic-type situation" in place when the State could not identify companies it deals with.

The party's enterprise spokesman, Mr Charles Flanagan, asked the Tánaiste how it could be possible for the Government to approve a contract with a company "the beneficial ownership of which is actually unknown and worse than that, unidentifiable". Ms Harney said countries around the world faced the problem.