Mr. Martin McGuinness:

I am happy to attend today's hearing and to put on record my knowledge, limited as it was, of the Project Eagle sale, just as I have done with the Department of Finance and personnel committee in the North. As deputy First Minister, my only involvement was a conference call, on 14 January 2014, with the then First Minister, Mr. Peter Robinson, and the Minister for Finance in the South, Deputy Michael Noonan, during which Deputy Noonan informed us of his intention to put NAMA’s Northern portfolio on the open market as part of a competitive process. I also attended a courtesy meeting with Mr. Dan Quayle, a former Vice President of the United States, and a Cerberus delegation on 24 September 2014. This was after the sale. On 4 June 2015, I submitted an information request to the then Northern Ireland Minister for Finance, Ms Arlene Foster, MLA, seeking detail on how Cerberus, which had acquired the Project Eagle portfolio, was engaging with local businesses and whether the Executive could regulate the approach taken by the firm. Ms Foster responded to say her officials met Cerberus on a regular basis to emphasise her expectation that borrowers are treated in a balanced, fair and transparent manner.

As far back as 2010 the Executive was aware of, and supportive of, the intent to appoint Northern advisers to the NAMA advisory committee but there was no involvement by the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minster, OFMDFM, in the individuals appointed, Mr. Brian Rowntree and Mr. Frank Cushnahan. There was a process in place to take forward the sale. This process was under the stewardship of NAMA and the Minister for Finance in the South, not the Executive. Since then, we have all become aware that a number of other meetings and engagements took place involving various combinations of the Minister, Deputy Noonan, Northern Ministers from the Democratic Unionist Party, DUP, and representatives of NAMA, Cerberus and PIMCO. I was not aware of any of these engagements. I learned in the media that Dan Quayle had met with Mr. Peter Robinson, Mr. Simon Hamilton, MLA, Mr. Ian Coulter and others at Stormont Castle on 25 March 2014. I was also concerned to learn that Deputy Noonan had met with Mr. Robinson and Mr. Hamilton on 27 September 2013 at Stormont, again without my knowledge. The meeting, which PIMCO confirmed to the committee just last week, involving PIMCO, Mr. Robinson and Mr. Sammy Wilson, MP, in May 2013, also happened without my knowledge or approval. Similarly, the memorandum of understanding which Mr. Robinson’s private office sent to NAMA in January 2014 did not have my consent or approval. A draft memorandum of understanding was emailed to my adviser, Ms Dara O’Hagan, but I was not made aware of this due to the fact that it was still a draft document with no status. Had a formal submission been received from the Department of Finance, it would have been subjected to detailed scrutiny by departmental officials.

Economists would have assessed it and legal advice would have been obtained from the departmental solicitor’s office and, possibly, the Attorney General given the significance of the matter. Only when such a document had passed through all these scrutiny and accountability processes would it have been presented to me for consideration. None of this happened, as no formal submission was received from DFP and the matter was not pursued. Therefore, the memorandum of understanding, MOU, as sent to NAMA did not represent the Executive’s position. It had never been formally submitted or considered and it was not an Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister, OFMDFM, document because it did not have the required joint approval. It had no status and, frankly, it is not worth the paper it was written on.

It is my view that all of these contacts raise legitimate questions about how the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, NAMA and others were handling the situation, but those are concerns that would need to be put to them. At the heart of this issue are the allegations made by Deputy Mick Wallace and the claim that the Irish taxpayer was massively short-changed in the Project Eagle sale. There are very serious questions which need to be answered and I am as interested as anyone in hearing the answers. I happy to take questions from members.