Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Do you still believe, Dr. Somers, that the operation of NAMA played a significant role in Ireland entering into a programme? You wrote an opinion piece in November 2010 on The Irish Times,which was really scathing of NAMA. So ... and you actually said, "What was really brought us to our knees as a country is the inevitable but calamitous consequences of working the NAMA project." You say:

Namaism [as you called it] has created a monster that has done the opposite to what was intended. With its haircuts and discounts and its immediate crystallisation of losses, it has wrecked the balance sheets of the banks and has ensured that there will be no net new lending by them.

And you went on further. You were absolutely scathing.