Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A key element of the opening statement was that there was no political pressure. I looked at the information presented to the committee. A letter arrived from the Northern Ireland Finance Minister to the Minister for Finance and was sent on to NAMA and suddenly it was selling the whole thing as one job lot. Had that letter not arrived through the political process, would NAMA have moved at the time to sell the whole thing? Did this encourage NAMA? There was a political catalyst for the process and, as such, NAMA cannot really state there was no political involvement. It does not stack up. NAMA has showed us two letters.

On the actual sale, there was a memorandum between the Northern Ireland authority and potential purchasers on a memorandum of understanding of how it would work. If that was to happen here where NAMA was selling a portfolio and there was to be a memorandum between the Department of Finance and potential purchasers of a loan book, it would be called political interference in the process. Was NAMA happy that it was trying to make a sale to the only body offering more than the reserve price, while politicians in Northern Ireland wanted an agreement and understanding with the company? If that was to happen here, would it not be considered political interference? While NAMA did not involve itself, surely it should have told somebody it was not appropriate to meddle with those to whom NAMA was trying to sell assets.