Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 10 November 2016

Public Accounts Committee

Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed)

9:00 am

Photo of Marc MacSharryMarc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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I will not be repetitive other than to say that I very much agree with Deputy Cullinane. To me, this letter is potentially explosive. One aspect that jumps out at me is that in a sales process of 2013-2014, NAMA was providing valuations for 2009. We had certain discussions with Ministers and others about the fact that valuations were not sought. From my own knowledge, having been an auctioneer, if NAMA was selling a house for €100,000 in Kiltimagh, three valuations would have been sought. There was significant movement in property values after 2009, which would have been at the absolute depths of the crash, versus 2013-2014, when there would have been a very established trend in all three locations in which the properties were located, namely, the UK, Northern Ireland and the South. We certainly were selling ourselves short. That is one part of it. In terms of the Northern Ireland Government, another part of it is that - with respect to, say, a person living in the North of Ireland - it might have been a very patriotic attempt to withdraw its property industry from what may have been perceived by it to be a process of throwing certain developers in the South under the bus of certain developers in the South. That is worth considering in the context of the approach taken by NAMA regarding the overall economic impact on this country of its actions. The third aspect is the role of Mr. Cushnahan and the fee element, which was simply incredible.