Departmental Staff

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 April 2015

Wednesday, 29 April 2015

Questions (59)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

59. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Finance if he will confirm that the primary adviser at Davy Corporate Finance (details supplied) with responsibility for the 2012 Siteserv sale, who was also responsible for managing the corporate finance relationship of an interested party at that time (details supplied), was subsequently hired by his Department to oversee the shareholder management unit, which had responsibility for departmental inquiries into the Siteserv transaction throughout the 2012/2013 period; the dates at which this person began employment in said role; if he considers there to be a major conflict of interest apparent in respect of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16995/15]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

I can confirm that the person referred to in the question who was primary advisor at Davy Corporate Finance to Siteserv during its sales process in 2012 is now Head of the Shareholding Management Unit in my Department.

This person was recruited through competition by the National Treasury Management Agency.  He is employed by the National Treasury Management Agency and is on secondment to the Department of Finance.

He began his current employment on 6th November 2013.

Prior to taking up his current employment, the person referred to in the question declared a conflict of interest existed on the Siteserv transaction which he advised on while in his previous employment. Given this conflict of interest, and in keeping with Department of Finance and NTMA policy, the person referred to in the question has not been involved in any way with any issues on the Siteserv transaction; this includes approving parliamentary questions, reviewing freedom of information requests and all internal discussions on this matter.

I would like to clarify that Davy Corporate Finance, in conjunction with KPMG Corporate Finance, were advising Siteserv exclusively. Davy Corporate Finance were not advising the person whose details were also referred to in the question as a bidder for Siteserv. Officials in my Department received correspondence from Davy confirming the same.

Given what I have already outlined, I do not believe there exists a conflict of interest on these matters.