Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I have a final question. Obviously Brown Rudnick had a full six months in which to look at putting together and understand the portfolio on behalf of PIMCO. Essentially, Brown Rudnick would have gone in, looked at the data and signed a non-disclosure agreement. It would have had the advantage of having all of that time to understand what the values of the various loans were.

I accept the point the Minister made that the Department found out about it after the event but presumably NAMA would have to have known at the point when the sale was made because they would have been acting on behalf of Cerberus. Was the Minister informed at any point? I find it difficult to believe that somebody can go into a data room, look at the material, go away and forget what they saw. There is an obvious advantage. Even if they sign a non-disclosure agreement, there is a memory of what they have seen. Did the fact they were permitted to act on behalf of Cerberus put other potential bidders at a commercial disadvantage? Did the Minister have any kind of discussion about that with NAMA after the event? Has he taken any action to make sure it will not be permitted to occur again?