Enda Kenny at the Mansion House this afternoon
The Taoiseach said up until recently the Government deemed an internal review by the liquidators of IBRC was the best way to find out more about the row of the sale of the company, Siteserv, to the businessman, Denis O’Brien.
But the row over Dáil reporting of related issues and the subsequent High Court hearings changed that and led Cabinet to decide to set up a Commission of Inquiry.
He said he chose to stand back from court deliberations in recent days until a verdict emerged.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny defends silence over IBRC row (Irish Independent)
Asked if the public should have concern about the extent of Mr [Denis] O’Brien’s power and influence in Irish society, Mr Kenny said:
“Obviously there are regulations and rules governing the ownership of media outlets and communications, and that’s a matter that the Minister for Communications (Alex White) keeps under observation.
“There are legislative conditions set down here. So I wouldn’t comment on an individual in particular but I do note that the Justice in his decision did say that any individual is entitled to privacy, but that clearly in particular circumstances the public good can override the requirement that that might apply.”
Taoiseach Breaks Silence (irish Times)
Pics: Jennifer Bray, (Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland)
It was wise of his handlers to have this at a reasonable hour, so he could re-acclimatise himself to sunlight, and not be seen squinting and blinking after emerging from the bunker.
Dammit. Teacher’s back.
+1
Decisive!
incoming poo storm of villagers wielding Blueshirts Out placards
Incoming poo storm of blueshirt shills from whatever bunker they’ve been hiding in.
An internal review ? Oh yeah that’ll fix it.
“But the row over Dáil reporting of related issues and the subsequent High Court hearings changed that and led [the] Cabinet to decide to set up a Commission of Inquiry”
Lovely bit of politicking there about the Cabinet in its infinite wisdom deciding to do what’s best. I would have thought the obvious conflict of interest would have been enough to get rid of KPMG’s involvement in the originally planned investigation, but nope, it took some good work from Deputy Murphy and many others in the background for this to happen. Sick to death of the snide sidestepping of issues that’s done in Irish politics. Mind you, with what little I know about politics in general, it’s probably just par for the course.
Coward. He’s fooling nobody…
We already know what happened. It would be nice to know if there were any other beneficiaries. I don’t suppose we will ever find out though.
May be he had a stroke and not in control of his speech… I am sure Beacon will have a good room for his recovery.
Is the head-scratching dude photobombing Kenny? :-)
Don’t think so-he might be signalling someone off-camera to make sure the EndaDroid is connected to the wifi okay.
Best little government to do business with. Paddy likes to “know”