The decision by the Government to appoint a Commission of Investigation into certain transactions undertaken by IBRC is welcome, in that it was clear that an obviously independent and thorough review is needed. Its establishment was prompted by revelations over the sale of Siteserv and also by subsequent Dáil statement from TD Catherine Murphy in relation to IBRC’s treatment of Denis O’Brien.
It must also be said that it need not have come to this. Information has been dragged out of the Government over recent months, particularly over Siteserv. It appeared that the Taoiseach and his Ministers hoped that it would all just “go away.” It hasn’t, though, and the fact that the Oireachtas does not function as a vehicle to probe and assess controversial issues has, again, led to the necessity of an independent review.
This is not entirely satisfactory, as it will take some months and will happen in private, but it was clear in recent days that some kind of independent inquiry was required. As the terms of reference are finalised, the Government should consider seeking an interim report from the Commission on the Siteserv issue as early as possibly, together with two or three other transactions specifically seen as matters of concern by the Department of Finance.
At an interim stage there is also no reason why the Commission could not indicate, in general terms, if there was evidence of any borrowers getting special interest rates from IBRC which were way out of line with what was charged to others. While the information on Siteserv raises clear questions, we have no such confirmation on the issue raised in the Dáil relating to Denis O’Brien’s loans – information Mr O’Brien says is false – or about IBRC’s approach in general in dealing with borrowers.
The work of the inquiry is not entirely straightforward. In examining the span of IBRC transactions and relationships with borrowers it may find areas which attract its particular interest. However in many cases the issue may come down to questioning commercial judgements and trying to assess “ what if” scenarios. The Commission may also have something to say about how the whole IBRC operation interacted with and was overseen by the Department of Finance and the Central Bank in relation to the transactions it is examining.
Politically, this has been a damaging episode for the Government. It faces questions about how IBRC was controlled and overseen and also about its reluctance to investigate and report quickly to the Dáil when the whole affair emerged. How is it that only this week we have learned that the write down taken by IBRC on the Siteserv deal was €119 million, and not around €110 million as had been thought? The Commission may need until the end of the year to complete its mandate, but there is no reason it should not report on Siteserv in a few months time.