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FINANCE MINISTER MICHAEL Noonan is not able to say the exact number of personnel who would have had access to two letters related to the period around the bank guarantee which have gone missing in the Department of Finance.
In answers to a series of parliamentary questions this week, the Minister shed more light on the Department of Finance’s loss of two letters that were copied to then-finance minister Brian Lenihan in January 2009 concerning possible investment in Bank of Ireland.
However, it appears officials are no closer to finding the documents, the disappearance of which was uncovered by Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty through Freedom of Information.
Copies of both letters are only available in almost entirely redacted form, although one of them has been partially recovered by officials in the Department through the ministerial representation tracking system.
In his written answers this week, Noonan said that the the documents would have been retained by the Banking Division of the Department of Finance where staff would “handle a lot sensitive and confidential information in their daily work”.
However he said it was not possible to indicate the exact number of personnel who would have had access to these letters since they came into the Department in early 2009.
Noonan said: “The number of personnel in the division would have varied from time to time since that date given changes in functions and personnel to deal with the banking crisis.“It would not be possible to indicate the exact number of personnel who would have access to these letters over the time since they were received.”
Last night, the Department of Finance said a total of 19 people are currently working in the Banking Division including one specialist on secondment. A spokesperson was unable to provide historical staffing numbers.
“As you are aware the organisational structure of the Department of Finance has been reformed since 2008,” the spokesperson said. “Compiling historical figures for staff working in the area of banking would require a much more detailed analysis of staff numbers.”
In his written answers Noonan also outlined the content of the recovered letter – which this website has already disclosed – from Richard Burrows, Bank of Ireland’s governor at the time, to tax consultant Noel Corcoran, who was representing the Jupiter Group.
In the letter, Burrows indicated that Bank of Ireland – which would receive €3.5 billion from the government less than fortnight later – was not open to outside investment and wanted to remain independent.
The Minister has previously said that officials are examining whether the letters can be recovered from the bank and the consultant.
BOI declined to comment while Corcoran has not responded to calls.
Noonan reiterated in his answers this week that a search has already been carried out to locate the missing documentation and said that officials are “continuing” their efforts to locate the two letters, including repeating some of the original searches and also examining other areas of the Department where they might be found.
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50 out of 50 peopled surveyed liked this news
Anyone know what kind of moolah this company pays? There are no details on the link.
While this is great news that we’re attracting more big tech companies, unfortunately most of these jobs like every other big tech company that comes here are going to be multi lingual which means they’ll be filled by people moving here to work.
People who learn English as a second language (possibly along with a third) as kids in school.
It’s beyond time our government instigated a mandatory foreign language program in primary schools.
10s of thousands of people live in Dublin that speak many different languages. These are tax paying jobs. Good for the economy.
Thousands of Irish people speak foreign languages fluently.
OU812: while this is great news but….. you are assuming you know their recruitment plan. Unless you do can you can you not just accept it as good news. It 50 jobs. Even if 10 go to “Irish” it ten more employed.
In the eyes of any growing or established company in the US we are a small populated country. Having access to a diverse pool of talent when they set up here is important.
As somebody mentioned earlier these companies will have nice wage bills that will be taxed & according to the Department of Finance every multinational that sets up here creates at least one job in a different sector of the economy.
This is good news.
Promoting Arabic, Russian, Chinese and German, in early secondary school cycle, as foreign language alternatives for student’s career development, would be a positive move for Dept of Ed IMO.
Lucrative careers as International traders awaits the Irish youngster who masters one or all of Arabic, Chinese, Russian and German, especially in Gulf States.
Agreed Rory. Maybe if they took Irish off the mandatory curriculum our students could focus more on a foreign language.
If the careers for those who speak these languages are so lucrative it would be difficult to fill any teaching posts with suitable candidates given the relatively low rates of pay.
Actually kids who attend Gaelic-speaking schools are not just (predictably) better at Irish but also study more and are better at foreign languages (including English btw).
What we need is to make ALL primary education through Irish and then we’ll be as multilingual as our continental peers.
Ho ho, time for the higher corporation tax proponents to come in with disapproval.
Locating in Ireland is not always because of the lower CT tax. Why locate in Lisbon first or consider London as a location when Ireland has a lower CT than both countries.
Did Dublin win these jobs over London, or did they open an office in London also?
Read the second paragraph again :)
Survey monkey should do well in Dublin. The place is full of primates as it is!!!!
The Portuguese must be delighted at this news.
The crusade led by US congressmen against Apple and Irelands tax laws seems to have had quite a positive effect on jobs creation here lately.
We have one
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