The judge in charge of the commission of inquiry into the sale of assets by the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) has asked for a second judge to be allocated to help him conduct his investigation.
Mr Justice Brian Cregan has informed the Government that even if he is granted the extra legal powers he believes are required to pursue the inquiry, he will need another judge to assist him. The judge has indicated the inquiry will run for seven or eight years if he does not get the extra assistance he needs.
He will shortly submit an interim report to the Taoiseach explaining why he believes he has insufficient powers to determine how the commission can deal with sensitive financial documents held by the Department of Finance and the IBRC special liquidator KPMG.
In a statement last night, the Department of Finance said it had co-operated fully with the commission and would continue to do so.
“The department has provided, to date, approximately 20,000 pages to the commission. This process is continuing and is expected to be completed in the coming days in accordance with the directions issued by the commission,” it said.
As well as providing its own documentation to the inquiry, it has supplied confidential IBRC documents and IBRC customer information in its possession, it said.
Confidential information
“The department had received confidential information from various sources outside the department and this information was confidential at the time of receipt. This confidentiality remained in place when such documentation was sent by the department to the commission,” said the statement.
The statement emphasised the department had not claimed confidentiality over information which it generated itself.
Meanwhile, in a podcast interview with The Irish Times, former IBRC chairman Alan Dukes said he met Minister for Finance Michael Noonan in July 2012 to explain the circumstances of the Siteserv deal, and "he accepted my explanation".
However, officials within the department continued to have problems with the sale.
“I don’t know whether they feel they can dispense with the services of the Minister or a decision of the Minister, but the Minister accepted it at the time,” he added.
