Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted Mr. Carville said that because it is the gist of what he said the first time. He gave the example of investment banks. His principal rationale for claiming this is commercially sensitive is that there may be another liquidation or something major of this scale in future and he does not want to disclose this information in case it prejudices the State's negotiations the next time around. This is a once-off case for which special legislation was introduced in the Oireachtas and on which the Minister has powers to supersede the normal creditors' committee. Let us hope for everyone's sake that we do not have another one of these cases in our lifetimes. I expect the Department will ensure this does not recur.

The rationale is that this commercially sensitive but there is nothing commercial sensitive. It is commercial and there is no sensitivity involved because the fees are publicly available and the amounts to be paid should also be publicly available. It does not have a knock-on effect because I cannot envisage a similar case arising again, whereas Mr. Carville can envisage another such case where this case could be used as the benchmark. Is the reason this is commercially sensitive that another project of a similar scale could arise and releasing information now could jeopardise negotiations at a future date? It is hardly the case that Mr. Carville is aware of such a case and we are not aware of it.