Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty has claimed a developer with debts of €500 million with the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) has been paying interest rates as low as 0.71 per cent.

Mr Doherty told the Dáil he had received confidential information about one of IBRC’s largest debtors and it warranted further investigation.

He said the documentation showed a developer was in debt of nearly half a billion euro but was receiving multimillion- euro loans.

The information received also showed the same debtor had the interest rate on an €80 million loan halved with no explanation, he said.

Mr Doherty said there were serious questions surrounding this arrangement.

He was speaking during a debate on the commission of investigation into write-offs by IBRC. He said the information he received might never get investigated by the inquiry due to the limits of the commission.

“Why did IBRC cut this individual’s interest rates by nearly half for a loan of over €80 million, why were they charging on a number of loans interest rates of under 1 per cent? These are questions that deserve to be answered.”

The commission is examining a series of transactions by IBRC but new legislation is allowing it to focus on the sale of the Siteserv company. It will issue an interim report to the Taoiseach solely on this issue before proceeding.

Figures released recently by Minister for Finance Michael Noonan showed 166 IBRC commercial loan accounts were charged an interest rate of less than one per cent. It detailed how 920 accounts at the bank were charged a rate of between 1-1.99 per cent on their loans, which in total amounted to €399 million.

Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy told the Dáil the application of interest rates by IBRC needed to be examined by Mr Justice Brian Cregan, the sole member of the commission of investigation.