Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Okay. We heard in testimony from various witnesses on the issues of NAMA and their belief that NAMA crystallised losses at the wrong point in the property cycle. For example, we also heard from Mr. Fingleton last week and he gave examples of three loans that he would be familiar with which were haircutted by NAMA which he believe will ... has already accrued close to half a billion euro of profit to NAMA. We also heard from developer Michael O'Flynn, where he gave evidence to this committee on 23 July and he said:

By paying low prices for assets and by taking good loans as well as bad, it was always likely that [an] entity would generate a profit. However, this profit has been achieved at the cost of an earlier recovery in the banking system and serious damage to some developers, who had loans acquired and who had lost an opportunity to work out those loans. It also ignore[d] the huge hidden cost of fees which [were] not included on NAMA’s balance sheets but, instead, added to the account of the borrower.

Firstly, what's your assessment of the assertion by Mr. Fingleton that NAMA was a factor in the losses experienced by those banks ... by his bank?