David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Follow-up information is needed.

Moving on, Mr. Soffe noted in his opening remarks that questions had been raised about the extent to which the sales process was competitive. He challenged the Comptroller and Auditor General's assertion that it might not have been competitive. When Mr. Daly was here some weeks ago, he said: "There was a concern that a fully open sales process, which would by its nature take longer to conduct, would freeze activity in the Northern Ireland market for a period of nine to 12 months." He went on to say NAMA "did not believe that a fully open sales process would yield any additional benefit in terms of identifying other credible bidders or of getting a higher price." Mr. Daly certainly seemed to be suggesting the process was not fully open. The Comptroller and Auditor General's report is also quite critical of restrictions that were imposed on bidders, a criticism also made by the bidders. Will the witnesses comment on this?