SBP editorial: Press must be allowed to continue asking the hard questions

On November 5, The Sunday Business Post published a 12-month investigation into the sale of Siteserv to the billionaire businessman Denis O’Brien, revealing startling new information about how the controversial deal was executed. The report was 12,500-words, and was spread over five broadsheet pages. Drawing on new documents, emails and other information, The Sunday Business Post’s Deputy Editor Tom Lyons forensically explained how O’Brien emerged as the new owner of the support services group best known for installing water meters. The documents revealed who knew what and when about the deal, which has been discussed extensively in the media and the Dáil since 2012.

The article prompted an immediate response – from the public and policymakers alike. It also caught the attention of the commission set up to investigate transactions involving Irish Banking Resolution Corporation (IBRC), a commission that is currently investigating the Siteserv deal.

A number of days before the article was printed, the commission dispatched a letter to this newspaper seeking undertakings from the newspaper not to disclose any evidence given to the commission in compliance with legislation. This letter came following a number of articles previously published by the newspaper. The undertaking was provided.

Nonetheless, the 12,500 word article was still published by this newspaper.

It was published on grounds of public interest, and on the basis that we did not believe the publication had breached the undertakings because the material did not come from the commission or any of its activities. It came as a result of an independent investigation by an independent newspaper.

However, the article set in train a series of events that last week led to an application by the IBRC commission, led by Mr Justice Brian Cregan, for injunctions restraining this newspaper from, among other things, publishing any witness statement provided to the commission and any oral evidence given to the commission in private session.

The Sunday Business Post consented to the application. We did this, after great consideration, for a number of factors. First, the cost of any legal challenge through the Irish courts for an independently owned newspaper is financially prohibitive. Unlike the commission, we can’t just turn around to the state and ask it for more money when we hit difficulties.

Secondly, the proposed terms of the injunction were narrowed by agreement. This gave the newspaper comfort that it could continue to cover issues of grave public importance that are within the commission’s remit without breaching the injunction. As such, we will continue to investigate issues of public concern relating to the former IBRC, while complying with orders of the courts.

Thirdly, this newspaper is supportive of the concept of commissions – when they are set up to investigate issues of real significance to the Irish taxpayer. It is why this paper published four editorials calling for such a commission to be established in the first place, and why, when the commission was on the cusp of collapse two years ago, we advocated enhanced powers to get it back on track. The commission has since received those powers.

Issues of public importance

This country has a bad history with tribunals and commissions that cost too much and uncover too little. Given its stance with this newspaper, it is crucial that the commission avoids the pitfalls of the past.

The commission has obtained an injunction against one of the few newspapers that has continually sought to uncover and investigate the truth about Siteserv and other issues within IBRC.

It is now incumbent upon the commission to finish its work in an efficient and thorough manner.

There are issues of public importance at stake here. The Sunday Business Post sought to investigate them, and was brought before the courts for doing so. We are now being asked to trust the state. Let us hope the state does not let us down.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar recently granted an extension until the end of next year for the commission to complete its work stating that there was “no option other than to grant that extension because if we do not do so the investigation will fall”. However, a request by Mr Justice Brian Cregan to double the legal fees for the commission was rejected.

Former minister for finance Michael Noonan said prior to the setting up of the commission that he had “no evidence” of wrongdoing in IBRC, but he set it up anyway.

Exactly nine hundred days later, the commission still is not close to finishing its first module examining one transaction, the sale of Siteserv to Denis O’Brien.

It has another 37 transactions to look at after that, plus interest rates, and anything else of public interest. A decade could lie ahead.

Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy, whose determination helped trigger the commission, said that if the increase in fees was agreed, the inquiry would cost in the region of €25 million when the original preliminary estimate was €4 million.

According to leaks to other media, Murphy is not going to be questioned by the commission.

The views of Murphy and her sources, it seems will not be heard.

This does a disservice to everyone, not least the board and executive of IBRC, Siteserv, O’Brien and others who will not now be able to respond to these claims.

It is a farcical situation.

It is worth noting too that the commission brought its application under laws passed by Irish legislators, men and women who regularly claim to champion the freedom of the press.

Famously, it is the job of the press to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. It is also the job of the press to ask hard questions and pursue hard stories. In an age when so much of the Irish media is controlled by so few, it is imperative upon titles like The Sunday Business Post to carry out these functions. That is our role. And in fulfilling it, we will continue to investigate, to challenge, to probe and to question.