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

The process followed until that point had been deviated from in this very big sale, which involved properties not only based in Northern Ireland but also loans associated with properties based in the United Kingdom, some of which were very large. There was a big shopping centre worth about £200 million and there were other loans around the £50 million mark or below. Some of them were very big assets or loans. There was a deviation from the process. The Minister wrote a letter on 25 July 2013, which is reproduced on page 22 of the report, in which he states - quite rightly - that NAMA is required to get the best financial return for the taxpayer. If there was a deviation from a process that was likely to deliver less than an optimum return or involved a bespoke deal that was very big, would that not have caused the Minister concern? Would he have got advice in his Department on it? Would it have stood out?