Well done Catherine Murphy for getting this information to the public. Denis O'Brien got a court injunction to stop RTE revealing this information.
You cannot
HIDE THE TRUTH
Catherine Murphy outlines details of IBRC-O'Brien business relationship in Dáil
Independent TD Catherine Murphy has spoken in the Dáil about the business relationship between Denis O'Brien and the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) - the former Anglo Irish Bank - including alleged details of his loans.
She has given details, which RTÉ is unable to report following a High Court injunction last week preventing RTÉ from reporting any details of Mr O'Brien's relationship with IBRC.
The issue arose from a story planned by RTÉ's Business Editor David Murphy.
On Thursday 21 May the High Court granted Denis O'Brien an injunction against RTÉ, which prevented the broadcaster from broadcasting any confidential information giving details of the businessman's personal banking arrangements with IBRC.
The injunction did not cover a statement Ms Murphy previously made in the Dáil on 6 May.
In this statement she said Mr O'Brien's loans had expired and he had written to Kieran Wallace, the special liquidator of IBRC, seeking the same terms as the previous management of IBRC had allowed him to pay off his loans in his own time at low interest rates.
This afternoon under Dáil privilege, Ms Murphy gave further details of Mr O’Brien’s relationship with IBRC. However, RTÉ is legally restricted from reporting what she said, because to do so would breach the injunction already granted against it.
Mr O'Brien today accused Ms Murphy of making false statements about him. He said it was a deliberate abuse of Dáil privilege.
He claimed her ultimate objective was electoral advancement with a disregard for the truth.
Ms Murphy has reacted strongly, saying she got information from a number of reliable sources and that it was without doubt in the public interest.
She said she had a duty to put that information into the public domain and she added she fully intended to fulfil her democratic mandate.
She said she would not be intimidated by statements accusing her of wrongdoing.
Former CEO of IBRC Mike Aynsley issued a lengthy statement responding to Ms Murphy's comments in the Dáil. RTÉ cannot report all of his statement. He said he totally rejected her objectionable and untrue statements.
Mr Aynsley said he was concerned Ms Murphy had used Dáil privilege to make defamatory comments.
He said he was also concerned about remarks she had made on social media and he said the matter was now in the hands of his solicitors.
He said after he was appointed following the nationalisation of Anglo in August 2009, he overhauled how the bank operated to ensure it did not repeat the mistakes of the past.
Mr Aynsley said clients and credit management activities were subject to ongoing oversight and scrutiny by people who were independent of the day-to-day management of the client relationships and governed by a credit control and committee approval process also independent of the day-to-day management structure.
He said he welcomed any review of the Siteserv transaction or any other transaction completed during the wind-down process, provided such a review was conducted fully and fairly.
No comments:
Post a Comment