A small number of the missing files at the Department of Finance may relate to policy decisions taken by Mr Charles Haughey when he was Minister for Finance.
According to figures released by the Department last night, four of the missing files, as well as some additional documentation, relate to the years 1965-'70. Mr Haughey was Minister between 1966 and 1970.
The Department confirmed that 139 files relating to exchange control and 12 additional volumes cannot be found. The content is not known, but many of them are believed to relate to individual cases where companies or individuals would have applied for permission to buy foreign currency between 1954 and 1965.
The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, insisted yesterday that there was "no question of me or the Department of Finance seeking in any way to deny access by, or obstructing the work of, the tribunal".
The Department undertook to compile all the files on exchange controls in its possession for the Moriarty Tribunal on foot of an order of discovery.
According to Mr McCreevy, reference to a file register identified 713 files covered by the tribunal's order, some of which would consist of several volumes. On top of that, 24 folders and 34 documents were identified and located.
As part of the search for the missing files, the Department has examined the register, which notes the names of anyone taking out a file. It was decided, however, that this was too unreliable as the files may have passed through many hands in a department. In addition, many of the individuals are now retired or no longer working at the Department.
Four of the missing files and one volume relate to the period from 1965 to 1970, after responsibility for day-to-day exchange control was passed to the Central Bank. According to figures supplied by the Department, 111 of the files go back before 1960, while 13 date between 1960 and 1965.
Of the missing volumes, five are pre-1960 and only one between 1960 and 1965. Eleven files and five volumes relate to the period after 1970.
The files missing from before 1965 would have related to both policy decisions and individual transactions.
Those dated after 1965 would not have related to any individual transactions but to policy decisions and correspondence with the Central Bank.
Mr McCreevy said the possibility that some of the files may have been amalgamated over the years, without being recorded in the file register, is being investigated.
Exchange controls were introduced in 1954 when Ireland followed the UK, which had brought in the controls for all non-sterling areas. In 1979 the controls were extended to the UK. The regulations were intended to prevent speculative flows from the State and to ensure the capital base of the Central Bank.
The regulations were extremely complicated and related to 25 different types of transaction and various requirements from the bank. Generally they meant that anyone requiring foreign currency for anything other than trade had either to get prior permission from the bank or at least report the transaction. Anyone requiring the money for trade had to produce an invoice.
In 1993 the controls were abolished as part of the EU capital liberalisation initiative and further movement to a single market.