Businessman Denis O’Brien said the Siteserv report exonerates him from “serious allegations” made under parliamentary privilege and criticised the legal costs involved in defending a “good name and reputation”.
In a statement responding to findings that his purchase of the company was made under “misleading and incomplete information”, Mr O’Brien said he was “surprised” the report did not criticise Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy for declining to give evidence to the long-running inquiry.
The Kildare North TD made allegations against him in relation to the €45 million deal with the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) — the remnants of the rogue Anglo Irish Bank — that were found to have “no basis in fact”, Mr O’Brien said.
“I am surprised the report makes no criticism of Deputy Murphy’s decision not to appear before it as a witness, particularly in light of the commission’s own acknowledgment that Deputy Murphy’s non-attendance denied parties, against whom she made very serious false allegations, their right to fair procedures,” he said.
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The commission of inquiry, set up seven years ago, has “clearly established there was no basis in fact to serious allegations” made by Ms Murphy about him in 2015 and 2016, Mr O’Brien said.
Ms Murphy said the interest rate on Mr O’Brien’s IBRC loans was “extremely favourable”, but Mr Justice Brian Cregan, the sole member of the commission, rejected claims that Mr O’Brien received a “favourable interest rate” from the bank.
“In the same speech, she claimed that my company, Millington, received a letter from the same IBRC executive telling me what to bid and that I added a €5 million ‘sweetener’ as part of the process,” said Mr O’Brien.
“Similarly, these allegations are entirely false. It is clear from the commission’s report that Millington had no role whatsoever in the decision to pay the shareholders.”
Despite being asked to testify at the investigation hearings, Ms Murphy “repeatedly refused”, he said.
“It begs the question: Why? Deputy Murphy knew that those individuals who gave her false information about me would not be identified, but she still chose not to attend to give evidence.”
Mr O’Brien said the report “highlights again the potential for the misuse of Dáil privilege by a Dáil deputy and anonymous individuals” and that “greater consideration is needed” before initiating any such investigation.
The businessman said there was also a “fundamental issue of justice denied”, where a citizen is “forced to incur very substantial legal costs to fight to protect their good name and reputation” when false allegations are made against them.
“Tens of millions of euros in legal fees have been incurred as a result of this commission,” he said.
“Those against whom the most injurious and false allegations have been made must bear the brunt of their costs as even the commission has acknowledged that the legal fees to be discharged by the State are completely insufficient.”
Mr O’Brien called for a “mechanism” to be developed to allow a commission of inquiry be stood down, under Dáil approval, if an elected representative making claims under Dáil privilege “refuses to give evidence and fails to furnish documentary evidence supporting the allegations.”
While Dáil privilege “is a central pillar of our democracy”, it “should not be used as a tool of political weaponry to be called into service for political advancement where the truth is the ultimate price”, he added.
“There is one certainty — it is that it is only a matter of time before Dáil privilege will be manipulated like this again,” he said.
“I believe that the Houses of the Oireachtas must introduce new regulations whereby misuse of Dáil privilege is immediately investigated and appropriate sanctions imposed.”
In a statement issued through the Social Democrats press office, Ms Murphy said the report was a “devastating chronology” of the Siteserv deal.
She said it was a “clear vindication of my decision to raise issues, surrounding this deal, under parliamentary privilege in the Dáil, and I now urge the Government to urgently act on its important recommendations”.