Meanwhile, At The Cregan Commission

at

Siteserv; Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy; Denis O’Brien

You may recall the Siteserv sale back in 2012.

Denis O’Brien owed Anglo Irish Bank hundreds of millions.

Siteserv owed Anglo Irish Bank €144 million.

Denis bought Siteserv debt-free for €45 million.

You will find a detailed background to the deal here.

Since then a Commission of Investigation, led by High Court judge Brian Cregan, has been tasked with investigating the sale of Siteserv to Denis O’Brien, and other matters.

In 2017 Catherine Murphy, of the Soc Dems, submitted a 300-page statement to the Commission detailing her research into the sale.

The commission later wrote to Ms Murphy saying, if she doesn’t reveal her sources, “it may not be possible to advance some of the issues raised” by her.

Further to this…

This morning.

In The Irish Times.

Jack Horgan-Jones reports:

Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy will not appear at the Siteserv inquiry as she fears she will be forced to reveal the sources of her information about businessman Denis O’Brien’s finances, The Irish Times has learned.

In a 10-page letter to the Cregan commission, parliamentary lawyers acting on Ms Murphy’s behalf argue that if she were to attend, she would be cross-examined by lawyers acting for other witnesses on “the source or sources of information” she relied upon when making statements about Mr O’Brien and the deal that saw him buy infrastructure company Siteserv.

“The commission is unable to afford any reassurance to Deputy Murphy that such cross-examination will not be permitted or that she will not be required to answer the questions put to her in the course of such cross-examination,” the letter, seen by The Irish Times, states.

Catherine Murphy will not appear at Siteserv inquiry (Jack Horgan-Jones, The Irish Times)

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4 thoughts on “Meanwhile, At The Cregan Commission

  1. Daire O'Criodain

    “Denis O’Brien owed Anglo Irish Bank hundreds of millions.”

    Anybody who has a mortgage, a car loan, a holiday loan or other borrowings owes money to the relevant financial institution. So, hundreds of thousands of Irish people are in the same position as you describe Mr. O’Brien as being in relation to Anglo Irish Bank. I am not sure why you are including this statement in the post unless you are implying (which I am guessing you are not) that Mr. O’Brien was in arrears on his repayment obligations or otherwise in default on his borrowings to that bank.

    1. Daniel

      Daire,

      you make an interesting point but i would argue that the special arrangements available to Mr O’Brien render this comparison invalid.

      Is there any particular reason or motivation you have for defending/ deflecting on this issue for Mr O’Brien?
      You can tell me it’s none of my business, but it would be interesting hearing the perspective from a philanthropist of an irish background.

      Daniel

  2. DOC

    O’Brien is a CLOWN
    The Media are terrified of him. He owns half of them
    He has been in court more times than Judge Judy and he has the money to hire the best lawyers/solicitors to back him up…….

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