Social Democrats call for Minister for Finance to attend Public Accounts Committee and ask why Government have back-tracked

The Social Democrats believe the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan should appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to explain his knowledge of, and involvement in, NAMA’s Project Eagle sale as it developed. “When the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report was published the understanding was that the Minister would appear before the PAC. Indeed, we know he was scheduled to attend our next meeting on Thursday, October 6 th . Why has he and the Government back-tracked on this?” asked Róisín Shortall who is a member of the PAC. And she added that comments made by Minister Leo Varadkar stating it would be “unprecedented” for a serving Minister to appear before the PAC are not accurate. “In December, 2011 the then Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin attended the PAC to brief the committee on the Public Service Reform Plan,” she said. Additionally the Social Democrats believe that the time constraints and structured format of Parliamentary questions (PQs) would make it extremely difficult for the Minister to be questioned thoroughly on this most important of matters. “My party colleague Catherine Murphy submitted 19 separate PQs about Siteserv before she had to resort to seeking answers through a Freedom of Information request. This is totally unsatisfactory and we don’t want a similar situation to arise with this case,” said Deputy Shortall. She added: “This is an exceptional case and therefore requires an exceptional approach. We believe there must be three strands to the investigation into NAMA in light of the C and AG report – these being financial, political and criminal. Minister Noonan, therefore, must explain why he approved the re-appointment of Frank Cushnahan, why he instructed NAMA to expedite the disposal of assets ahead of schedule and why he didn’t act in respect of Project Eagle when alarm bells started to ring.”



please contact:

Anne-Marie McNally

01-618 3591 / 086-3754315

annemarie.mcnally@socialdemocrats.ie

@amomcnally



