Mr. Brendan McDonagh:

There is no way I could sit here and tell the Deputy that NAMA could get the timing of every asset sale right. Buyers buy assets on the basis that they expect to make a commercial return and some, as he said, take a longer term view and others take a short-term view.

With regard to the asset to which the Deputy referred, that was a receivership sale. The receiver openly marketed the asset and it was agreed to sell it at the best price at the time in late 2012. That was before the property market recovered. The fact that it was sold subsequently to a special purchaser happens. Some people may have the view that nobody else would have paid the price that was paid for it in mid-2014. Having looked at and spoken with the receiver in terms of his legal obligations to maximise the return to pay off the debtor's debt and having looked at the fact that it was openly marketed, it is the safest mechanism to ensure one gets the best price one can for an asset at a particular point in time. If it is not openly marketed, one always run the risk that there would be somebody who would say he or she would have paid more if he or she knew the asset was available.