Mr. Brendan McDonagh:

I will answer this, as I was around when the legislation was developed. The NAMA legislation was very controversial at the time, and as part of the debate 400 amendments were proposed between the time when the legislation was first introduced to the Dáil, in September 2009, and when it was passed in November 2009.

One of those amendments concerned the social dividend. That was inserted as a purpose of the Act under section 2 but the board is obliged to act in accordance with section 10, which means getting the best commercial return. That is the legal constraint within which the Oireachtas obliges the board to operate.

We have done our best to facilitate the provisional sale of sites from debtors to the Department of Education and Skills and local authorities for schools and social housing, and where sporting organisations had leased land from debtors we have ensured those leases continue as long as possible. We have been supportive where we can but unfortunately the board has to operate within the legislation enacted by the Oireachtas.