IBRC review should include personal loan writedowns, Renua says

The Government review of transactions by Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) should be extended to include personal loan writedowns resulting in a loss of €1 million or more to the taxpayer, Renua Ireland has said.

In a letter to Minister for Finance Michael Noonan, party leader Lucinda Creighton said the "threshold of the investigation into how personal and company debts were handled by the IBRC" must be reduced from its €10 million level.

The “public has a right to know” if some personal customers were given writedowns by IBRC, she wrote.

Mr Noonan set up the investigation, to be carried out by the IBRC special liquidators, following controversy over the sale of Siteserv to a company controlled by businessman Denis O'Brien.

The terms of reference of the IBRC review, which is to be completed by the end of the summer, say it will "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 in January 2009 and the liquidation of IBRC in 2013 which led to a loss of €10 million or more.

Concern

It also said other transactions “likely to give rise to potential public concern, in respect of the ultimate returns to the taxpayer” may also be included.

However, in her letter to Mr Noonan, Ms Creighton said she and her party shared “the very deep concerns expressed by many about the format of this investigation”.

She also said there was precedent to examine personal and company debts above €1 million, due to “the case of Michael Fingleton”, the former chief executive of Irish Nationwide, which also became part of IBRC.

“The special liquidator correctly issued legal proceedings against Michael Fingleton claiming that he should not have received a €1 million bonus in 2009,” she wrote.

“If customers were given writedowns by IBRC management during the period under review, the public have a right to know who, or how many borrowers received these writedowns and to what amount.”

She said the €10 million threshold “may exclude relevant and significant transactions which are of vital public concern”.