John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Mr. McDonagh is talking about value and Mr. McCarthy is talking about numbers. Okay.

I am more concerned about the €280 million that was lost, and ultimately the cost to the taxpayer, than I am about the process. I would like to dwell on that for a moment. Mr. Daly gave reasons as to why he felt it was probably the right thing to do when it came to the disposal of this loan book. Considering the resources in NAMA, it would make it easier to deal with other things and other properties as a result. Considering the amounts we are talking about here and the size of this loan book, I would question that. Surely the only major consideration should have been what we get for this and whether the timing was right to sell.

That is the issue for me, not whether we can actually free up some of the resources in the organisation to deal with something else. This was the biggest portfolio that had ever been sold by NAMA and surely that was the main or only consideration by the board. I know it debated it long and hard.

If we take a look at appreciation or depreciation in the commercial, retail and even residential markets throughout the geographical locations, Mr. Daly stated some of the comments on Northern Ireland in particular are outlandish. Somebody spoke about a 20% boost in the commercial sector in Northern Ireland. However, it did grow a small bit in 2014 and it stopped. Mr. Daly spoke about getting rid of this loan book in a lagging market. He felt NAMA would get the best price for this entire loan book at that time. Everything is very easy in hindsight and everyone is an expert when it comes to property values after the fact. Everyone is an expert in this country these days. One must ask the question, considering where the markets have gone in the UK, and even in Northern Ireland and the Republic, and the Comptroller and Auditor Channel quoted the figure of 18% that were numbers of properties-----