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

It is very strange to imagine that a vulture fund would have been preferable. My last question relates to the senior bonds. The rates at the time in 2014 were at practically zero. It is my understanding that there was sufficient space so there would not be a need for a fire sale so why the rush? I cannot figure out why there was a rush to sell. Was NAMA directly engaged with the ECB or was that through the Minister for Finance, or through the chairman? What was that relationship and was that the only imperative? These loans were supposed to have been worked out by 2020, which was then reduced back to 2018. It looks like there was almost a rush to bundle the loans. Given that the rates were almost at 0% why would that be the case?