Retired High Court judge to oversee IBRC review

A retired High Court judge has been appointed to oversee any conflicts of interest which may arise in the investigation into the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation's (IBRC) transactions.

Minster for Finance Michael Noonan said Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill would monitor conflicts of interest in the IBRC transaction review.

The terms of reference for the inquiry also allow conclusions to be drawn as to whether any of the sales of IBRC assets “were not commercially sound”.

In the wake of the controversy over the 2012 sale of Siteserv to businessman Denis O'Brien, Mr Noonan announced that officials from KPMG would examine all IBRC transactions which resulted in a loss of more than €10 million to the taxpayer.

The officials, Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson, are also the IBRC special liquidators. However, Opposition parties raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest because KPMG advised Siteserv, with Fianna Fáilleader Micheál Martin saying the appointment of the judge does "not go nearly far enough".

“The terms of reference are far too narrow. There is no effort whatsoever to address the fundamental conflict of interest that still remains unchallenged. A ‘monitoring’ role will do nothing to get to the bottom of the Siteserv sale and the decisions that were made on behalf of taxpayers.”

Independent TD Catherine Murphy, who has investigated the sale of Siteserv, said she had no “problem with the judge” but does “have a problem with KPMG”.

“The Tánaiste told us last week it would be an independent and competent investigation. I have no doubt it will be competent but I certainly don’t believe it is independent.

“I can’t believe the Government would see this as sufficient. It can’t be the same firm. What will people think at the end of the process if they are told: ‘nothing to see here’. I don’t find it acceptable.”

In a statement released on Monday Mr Noonan said to “address potential conflicts of interest” he appointed “retired High Court judge Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill to monitor any actual or perceived conflicts of interests”.

Special liquidators

Mr Noonan said this had been with the agreement of the IBRC special liquidators.

The terms of reference of the review are to "consider all transactions, activities and management decisions, other than those relating solely to the acquisition of assets by the National Asset Management Agency" between the nationalisation of the then Anglo Irish Bank and the liquidation of IBRC in 2013 which led to a loss of €10 million or more.

Other transactions which are “likely to give rise to potential public concern, in respect of the ultimate returns to the taxpayer” may also be included.

KPMG gave a number of journalists 30 minutes each to view the Siteserv share register in the offices of Computershare in Sandyford on Monday afternoon. It was not possible in that timeframe to clearly establish the identities of all of the people who traded Siteserv shares between November 2011 and March 2012, the period during the company’s sale process when trading reportedly spiked. The Computershare system is not set up to search by date.

KPMG later made a copy of the share register available for inspection in the firm’s offices in Dublin. This copy, however, did not include the dates of any transactions.