Mr. Brian Rowntree:

I thank the Chairman and Deputies for the invitation to attend this meeting today. My opening remarks will simply lay before the committee the facts as they apply to me as a member of the NIAC at the time of Project Eagle, the sale of the NAMA Northern Ireland loan portfolio. I wish to confirm that the complete sale of Project Eagle was a matter for the main board and senior executive team of NAMA. A decision was taken by the NAMA board to oversee this process under strict controls and we, as the Northern Ireland advisory board, were in no way consulted, referenced or updated on the detail on the bid and sale process and the resulting compliance issues. I respected this decision and at no time during, prior to or subsequent to the sale process did I make any personal or corporate interventions to the NAMA board or executive team, to the bidders in this process, PIMCO and Cerberus, political representatives, political parties, civil servants, other investors' or potential bidders' representatives or developers. At all times I respected the corporate governance provisions surrounding the Project Eagle sale process, the commercial confidentiality of the process as well as the corporate integrity of the NAMA board and senior executive team.

As a member of the NIAC I was updated on the original interest expressed by PIMCO but only in general outline terms and no specifics of the interest were discussed with us as a committee. After this outline briefing no further outline updates were offered and none were sought by me. At subsequent NIAC meetings the committee was simply told that Project Eagle was still a live process. I was never informed of the Cerberus bid and I was notified of the sale agreement and the NAMA board sign-off the day before the public announcement of its completion. Mr. Frank Daly, the NAMA chairman, rang me to inform me of the successful conclusion to Project Eagle.

At NIAC meetings we were not made aware of direct or perceived individual conflicts of interest as noted by individual members. Declarations of conflicts were noted in writing at the start of each meeting by each person attending and we had to regularly update our own personal register of interests. All such records were held centrally by the NAMA corporate governance directorate. NAMA put in place a robust corporate governance framework which applied to all component parts of its operation, including the NIAC, and as members we were subject to regular training and update discussions on governance provisions. At all times I respected and adhered to this strict governance framework. An organisation with such a commercially sensitive mission as NAMA's can only be effective and respected when all stakeholders adhere to the principles of good governance.

The NIAC was not a decision-making forum and we all understood this from day one. The committee was purely a consultative and advisory framework on strategic aspects of NAMA business and dealings that had particular reference to the socio-economic indicators for Northern Ireland. The NIAC did not engage or seek to engage in the details of individual debtor portfolios and individual debtor cases were not discussed. The discussions at the NIAC were high-level, strategic impact discussions on the direction of travel for NAMA in respect of the assets secured against the consolidated debts. Members of the committee were fully aware that NAMA did not own such assets but were equally aware that the ownership and control of the debt resulted in de facto control of the assets.

With this in mind, the NAMA Northern Ireland advisory committee reached agreement with the main NAMA board not to engage in a fire sale of Northern Ireland assets so as not to adversely impact further on the Northern Ireland property market. With this in mind, it was also understood by the committee that the Northern Ireland Executive would not control but would be informed of the work of NAMA in Northern Ireland.

Through the NAMA Northern Ireland advisory committee also undertook high-level strategic asset studies. Such research was indicated as strictly confidential and the university undertaking the study also engaged with other banks and lenders on comparable research to provide a confidential high-level consolidated report indicating the opportunity for selected asset type development to extract realistic value from the loan book, both current and projected.

It is important that the allegations surrounding the Project Eagle sale are investigated in full and that any such investigations look also at the corporate governance controls, both executive and non-executive, surrounding the bid process. It is important that integrity is the key principle in any such investigations and any confirmed breach of integrity must have supporting accountability and sanction. I fully support the essential desire and drive for the facts and truth surrounding the allegations leading to the sale of Project Eagle.