Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to run through a few topics before we move to Deputy David Cullinane.

Dealing with the overall loss on the Northern Ireland portfolio, there is a document from NAMA, PAC R167B, which deals with the NAMA audit committee meeting on 1 May 2014. The document, from around the time of completion of the sale, states: “Based on preliminary calculations, it is anticipated that the loss generated on the loan sale may be up to £160 million”. That is a figure NAMA recorded at its audit committee and would have been relevant because it was when there was a big discussion of how much one should provide in the 2013 accounts versus the 2014 accounts.

In his opening statement on Thursday, 9 July 2015 Mr. McDonagh stated:

In overall cash terms, taking into account disposal proceeds, non-disposal income, advances and the proceeds of the loan sale, the net cash loss to NAMA, in layman's terms, on the Northern Ireland [debtor] portfolio was about €280 million.

Around the time of the sale the figure was £160 million. With the passage of time and after looking at the figures, a year after the event, Mr. McDonagh presented a figure of €280 million to the committee. In September 2016 the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, in paragraph 3.86, referred to the famous issue of £190 million being a “significant probable loss of value to the State”. On 29 September 2016, in his opening statement to the committee, the Comptroller and Auditor General stated:

NAMA recorded a loss of £162 million in 2014 as a result of sales relating to its Northern Ireland debtors. Most of this related to Project Eagle. Losses of £478 million on the Northern Ireland loans had already been recognised in earlier years, reflecting deterioration in market conditions since November 2009. That was the market value reference point used by NAMA when it bought all its loans.

The Comptroller and Auditor General referred to the loss of £162 million in 2014 when the sale was completed. Previous losses had been recorded by way of an impairment figure of £478 million. This adds up to £640 million. In his opening statement today Mr. McDonagh said:

We note that if the timing of the Eagle sale had been six or 12 months later, additional impairment would have been recognised and I have little doubt that the cumulative impairment at that point would have been close to the £640 million total impairment that we ultimately took on this portfolio.

That is exactly the figure the Comptroller and Auditor General had quoted here a month earlier. That is the cumulative loss from the time NAMA bought it to the time it disposed of it. Is Mr. McDonagh happy with all of these figures?