Mr. Frank Daly:

One has to go back to 2009-10 when NAMA was being set up and when it became obvious that it would be taking over loans related to a considerable number of Northern Ireland debtors - not a considerable number in terms of our overall portfolio from our point of view, but in regard to the Northern Ireland economy and property market it would be quite considerable. There was, as I understand it at the time, presentations, indeed pressure from the Northern Ireland Executive to appoint a NAMA board member from Northern Ireland to represent Northern Ireland interests. The Minister at the time - certainly, it would always have been NAMA's view - took the view that board members would not be appointed to represent particular sectoral interests or any other interests. They would be appointed solely in terms of the broad skill-set and expertise that was needed for the board. The representations and the pressure continued - I suppose, we are back again into the North-South sensitivity area - and the Minister decided that what we would do is create an advisory committee. That was the origin of the Northern Ireland Advisory Committee. The make-up of it was to be members of the board of NAMA and two external representatives, and it is quite clearly stated in the terms of reference of the committee that the NAMA full-board members were always to be in the majority.

That was the origins of it. The pressure, by the way, over the years to have somebody from Northern Ireland on the full board continued. We resisted it, again, on the basis that we did not want any sectoral or geographic interests on the board as we wanted membership on the basis of expertise. That was the background to it.

As I mentioned earlier, when it was set up in 2010, as I understand it, some names were referred to the Department of Finance by the Northern Ireland Executive, in particular, by the former Minister for Finance and Personnel, Mr. Sammy Wilson, MLA.

The recommendation was for Mr. Frank Cushnahan and Mr. Brian Rowntree to be appointed. That was sent across to us in NAMA and we appointed them in April 2010.