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 David CullinaneDavid Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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NAMA also talked about difficulties with debtors and pressures that justified its change in sales strategy. I do not know whether a briefing note is on the system here but I referred to it this morning. The briefing note is dated 6 November 2013 and the reference No. is 2292015. It was sent by Mr. Martin Whelan of NAMA to Mr. Declan Reid and the NAMA communications team. The note was displayed on the screen this morning. This overview of NAMA's Northern Ireland portfolio states "70% of the Northern Ireland portfolio is completed property and is income producing", that "NAMA has approved £140 million in new money advances" and that:

In a small number of cases NAMA has had to enforce in [the North]. The Agency's enforcement is proportionate to the scale of its exposure.

That is no different from what happened in the South. The note continued:

It should be pointed out that the .... Assembly have repeatedly asked NAMA to take a phased approach.

That was in line with working out the assets. The last line reads:

As it has transpired, NAMA's commercial approach has been aligned with this.

Nowhere does the note say that NAMA had concerns in real terms about debtors. Nowhere does it say that there were risks that would have warranted a change in sales strategy. That is my point. Ms Nolan has said there were concerns about NAMA bonds, the ECB and pressures but there is no evidence anywhere, that was presented to the board, that backs up those pressures.