Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would like to make one final point. The reason this is absolutely critical is the version of events from NAMA - this is in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - when it was asked what it had done when this conflict of interest came to light is that when it had come to light Mr. Cushnahan had stepped down. NAMA's response was that it had discovered there was a success fee, but Mr. Cushnahan was not getting it because the transaction had been terminated and that he had gone off on his merry way. I believe what we are looking at is something entirely different. It is not simply that NAMA discovered that Mr. Frank Cushnahan was in line for a success fee or a fixer's fee but that it had been brought to its attention - I believe this is reflected in the minutes - that Mr. Cushnahan, with Tughans and Brown Rudnick, had been involved in hammering out this deal from the get-go and that the success fee had been envisaged from the get-go.