Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Mr. McDonagh has said that, and the Comptroller and Auditor General, in his statement, agrees. That is all I want to say about it. There is so much confusion about figures, but there is agreement on that figure anyway. That is a statement of fact that the committee can put to bed at this stage.

The next issue I want to mention is the issue of the discount. I will not dwell on this too much because I mentioned it a little earlier in the meeting. On page 5 of his written statement today, Mr. McDonagh mentions the "alternative [net present values] scenarios ... generated [by] using alternative discount rates". Mr. McDonagh has not been able to demonstrate that, although he said he did discuss it. I also want to refer to the opening statement of Mr. John Collison, head of residential delivery in NAMA, who appeared before the committee on 25 October. On page 9 of his written statement, he stated: "The fair value methodology for the 2012 accounts agreed [by] the C&AG was based on a discount rate of 10% and, had this fair value discount rate been applied to the Eagle portfolio, the NPV [net present value] would have been £1,365m."

Here we have Mr. Collison telling us just a month ago or so that, had the 10% discount been applied, it would have given that figure. That implies to me that it was not applied. If it had been applied, I would have expected his opening statement to have read that the 10% discount was applied, resulting in a particular figure. However, his opening statement is qualified in that regard and I imagine these statements were carefully written. Rather than specifically stating that the 10% discount was applied, he uses the phrase "had [it] been applied". Does Mr. McDonagh get the point?