Mr. Frank Daly:

I will be brief because I have been appearing before committees for long enough to be wary of straying into Government policy, whether it be the current or a new Government. Over the six years of NAMA's life we have been the subject of quite a lot of allegations which, to my mind, have a common characteristic: they have not stood up. Little or no evidence - nothing in fact - has ever been produced to back up allegations of wrongdoing at NAMA. I will state as a strong personal view that it is unfortunate that sometimes, under parliamentary privilege, individuals have been named who cannot defend themselves. As to whether anything in the statute could help us, members should remember that in terms of NAMA and its operations, the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General is all over us. It has access to every single document and e-mail and anything it seeks in NAMA is provided for it. The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General has conducted two reviews of NAMA to date and is in the middle of a third. It is required, under the Act, to carry out these reviews on a particular basis. Nothing in the first two has revealed any serious or significant issue for NAMA. Consequently, there are plenty of opportunities for NAMA to defend itself. However, I am not looking for any change in legislation. In our view and to my personal knowledge, the Comptroller and Auditor General does an extremely thorough job.