Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There was an earlier discussion here as well from the Northern Ireland perspective, from Deputies Cullinane and Farrell, about, as the Minister said, expeditious disposal of property. The Minister said there was an open competitive process. However, I will quote an interesting response Frank Daly gave last week to a question from Deputy Rock regarding the former's analysis from Northern Ireland:

I cannot tell the Deputy how many times I was in Northern Ireland and was told not to go auctioning Northern Ireland or go putting a for sale sign on Northern Ireland. On one occasion somebody said to me, "You might not have got us in 1922. Do not think that you are going to get us now through NAMA."

That is a fairly stark statement to make. The Minister says that there was an open competitive process, but Mr. Daly talks in those kinds of terms.