Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 23 Mar 2000

Vol. 516 No. 5

Written Answers. - Departmental Inquiries.

Derek McDowell

Ceist:

130 Mr. McDowell asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the costs incurred by the State arising from inquiries instigated by or on behalf of her Department; the element of these costs recovered from NIB; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8013/00]

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Ms Harney)

The costs incurred on recent company investigations initiated by or on behalf of my Department amount to about £2.14 million to date. The breakdown is as follows:

Ansbacher (Cayman) Limited	£201,000
Bula Resources (Holdings) plc	£203,000
Faxhill Homes Limited	£130,000
National Irish Bank Limited/National IrishBank Financial Services Limited	£1,600,000
Other Investigations	£12,000
Total	£2,146,000

These costs do not include either the salary costs of my Department's staff who are working on investigations or legal costs relating to these investigations which are borne on the Vote of the Chief State Solicitor.

None of the costs of the NIB/NIBFS investigations being undertaken by High Court inspectors under section 8 of the Companies Act, 1990 have yet been recovered from the companies. Section 13 of the 1990 Act provides that the cost of a section 8 investigation shall be defrayed in the first instance by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The court may direct that any person, beinginter alia a company dealt with in the inspector's report, shall be liable to repay that Minister the costs incurred to such extent as the High Court directs. As I have indicated at an earlier date, it is my intention to request the High Court to seek the full recoupment of the significant costs of these investigations on their completion.