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

Was Lazard not brought in after PIMCO withdrew? If that is the case, it did not advise NAMA of it in advance. I think it would be fair to say it advised NAMA in hindsight. It has been suggested that Northern Ireland was a different category, but 50% of the assets associated with the loans were not based in Northern Ireland. Why were they not separated out? They would not have raised the same conflicts or problems that existed, according to what we have been told. On that point, why did NAMA engage the University of Ulster to do a piece of work to prepare in advance of the sale, if it considered that a more strategic approach needed to be taken and that this information was needed? That does not make any sense to me. It seems to have been dispensed with very quickly.