Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Some of the characters are more desirable than others and some are quite nefarious, with a plot line changing as it goes along. I am not sitting here in judgement of Mr. Daly or NAMA, for that matter. We have a report to produce and we are trying to establish the truth more than anything else. The witness can understand, from our perspective, when we are hearing different narratives and polar opposite statements about different things, that it is quite difficult to find the commonalities and to ascertain the truth. That is what we are paid to do and why we are here. I hope he can appreciate why people get a bit excited at times about it.

I will start with a positive. Mr. Daly's opening statement discusses documentation on page 9. When he was previously before the committee, he did say that the process could have been tweaked better, if my memory serves me correctly. Mr. John Collison of NAMA also said that there could have been improvements. At the time, Mr. Daly said that the minutes should record decisions, not discussions. However, in his opening statement on the issue of documentation, Mr. Daly said, "If there is one message above all others that has come home to me based on that evidence, it is the fact that we did not document in greater detail and with greater clarity the rationale for key board decisions". That is something I asked him about on the last occasion and I think it is very important. I am glad that he accepts that because it is a departure from what he originally said to us. I believe that it will be helpful going forward in order that we alleviate something like this happening again. That is what we are all about at the end of the day. I welcome that in Mr. Daly's opening statement.

The other thing I will put to Mr. Daly is something I asked Ms Ann Nolan in the Department of Finance. It is only fair of me to ask Mr. Daly today. It is about the NAMA Act itself. My view is that it was quite restrictive in terms of expediting the sales above everything else. I said that to Mr. Daly on the previous occasion he was before the committee with regard to haste. I know I outlined a lack of certain things and I will go through that in a minute. What is Mr. Daly's view of the NAMA Act itself? Does he think it was restrictive on NAMA? Did it put haste above everything else?