Mr. Declan Reid:

To bring some clarity to this conversation, we did not have a robust exchange with the Comptroller and Auditor General on the discount rate. At the time of our engagement the discount rate was not the main focus of our discussion. The main focus of our discussion was the process in terms of whether it created significant competitive tension to ensure best value, and those type of topics. In terms of what the report says to me, it is whether the decision by NAMA to sell now versus to hold and work out was the appropriate decision. In the papers the Deputy has seen, NAMA had attributed a 5.5% discount rate across its portfolio in its entirety to value the cashflows from a work-out strategy. Comparing that with the applicability of a 5.5% discount rate on a portfolio of Northern Irish assets, which I believe the NAMA executives and board members last week indicated were of lesser average quality than the rest of the portfolio, is 5.5% appropriate even for that work-out strategy? I think they argued last week that it would not have been. The real question is not necessarily whether it is 10% or 5.5%, but whether it is a case of sell today or hold and work out until tomorrow.