Siteserv inquiry head calls for permanent commission of investigation

Mr Justice Brian Cregan

In his final report, published yesterday, Mr Justice Brian Cregan said all the “knowledge and expertise” built up over the course of an inquiry “is effectively lost as each commission finishes its work”.

The suggestion of a permanent commission of investigation body was previously dismissed by the Law Reform Commission in 2005, less than a year after the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004 was passed.

Mr Justice Cregan said it was now “clear that the Law Reform Commission was not in a position at that time to fully evaluate how commissions of investigation would operate”, and “almost 20 years after the passage of the [2004 Act], it is time to revisit that finding”.

The High Court judge was appointed in 2015 to lead a commission of investigation into certain transactions at the State-owned Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), beginning with the controversial sale of Siteserv to billionaire businessman Denis O’Brien in 2012.

The inquiry concluded last year that the sale of Siteserv for €45 million, while writing off €119m of its €150m debt, was so tainted by impropriety and wrongdoing that it was not commercially sound.

The government agreed to the commission’s recommendation that there would be no useful purpose in investigting the remaining 37 transactions covered by its terms of reference.

Mr Justice Cregan’s final report, which deals with costs as well as proposals for the reform of the commissions of investigation process, was submitted to the Taoiseach last week.