Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 9 July 2015
Public Accounts Committee
National Asset Management Agency: Financial Statements 2014
9:30 am
John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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This information was out there and these firms were out there. I understand they are reputable firms and understand the reason they, including Brown Rudnick, are in the market in terms of sourcing interest and getting value from their involvement and so on. However, when we piece together the correspondence NAMA provided to us this morning, the memorandum of understanding, the fact there were 55 debtors and that it is a small market, this would seem to me to have been the wrong approach, based on the information NAMA gleaned as it went through the process.
On 10 March 2014, when it became known to NAMA that this £15 million was to be split three ways, according to PIMCO, surely this should have set alarm bells ringing. There were other instances that should have set alarm bells ringing before that - going back to 2014 in that letter, going back to Mr. Cushnahan and his termination or resignation from the council and other issues I will come to later. In my opinion, this should have been a huge concern for NAMA at the time and it should have stood back and questioned the process again. That is the point I am making.
In response to my questions, NAMA is outlining the involvement of Brown Rudnick, but I am going beyond that to the knowledge in the local economy and among debtors, the knowledge between Brown Rudnick, Tughans and Mr. Cushnahan and the other interests that were there. It just does not stack up.