Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 November 2004
120 Ms B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the efforts that have been made to recover the €44 million owed to the State by a defunct mineral exploration company (details supplied); if he has communicated with the Committee of Public Accounts on this issue; the nature of the communications with the PAC that have taken place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31258/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe question relates to advances made by the State to the company between 1983 and 1986 totalling £956,296 for the purposes of securing the continuation of interest payments by the company on senior financing. The figure of €44 million includes interest at 20%. This was set at an equivalent rate to that claimed on advances to the company by other directors, which have also not been paid.
The advances were made by the State to tide the company over during negotiations on rescue packages and to forestall the execution of judgments already obtained by the banks. Attempts to rescue the company failed and a receiver was appointed by the High Court in 1985. The receivership was stalled pending the outcome of a number of court actions, including the High Court case brought by directors of the company against Tara Mines and others and the State — Record Number 1986 No. 10898P — which were not ultimately settled until December 2000 when the High Court set aside all pending actions by Bula against the receiver and consented to the sale of the assets of the company. In May 2001 the receiver announced that he had reached agreement on the sale of the assets of Bula for a total of €34.9 million, £27.5 million. The sale of this asset was not sufficient to repay all the moneys outstanding to the banks. The nature of the advances by the State to the company were such that they were subordinated to the senior debt so there was no possibility of them being repaid once the receivership was in train.
The Secretary General of my Department has been in correspondence with the Committee of Public Accounts and will reply shortly to supplementary questions put to him by the committee.
