Mr. Des Carville:

I thank the Senator for those points. There are quite a number of things I would like to go through for the Senator, if I could. With regard to oversight and information on NAMA and its outturn, under section 226 of the Act, the C and AG produces a report on NAMA every two years. The C and AG is also able to do specific reports on NAMA. Under section 227 of the Act, with respect to the Minister and the Department, we produce a report every three years and we assess NAMA's performance and whether it should continue. These reports are all in the public domain.

On the commission of investigation, the Senator is quite right that the commission has had quite a number of extensions. If I remember correctly, it is 18 extensions. The best information we have is that the current extension is, as the Senator said, to the end of October of this year. I ask the Senator to please bear one thing in mind. We are not asking the Oireachtas to close down NAMA until the end of 2025. I do not know if the commission will report by the end of October of this year but if, for example, the commission were to say it was going to drift beyond the end of 2025, I think the Senator's point would be well made and we would have to have a serious rethink about what we do with the timelines.

There is no intention to try to close down NAMA before the commission of investigation reports. There is a very clear state aid requirement from the DG for competition that NAMA be wound up by the end of 2025. To the extent that the Oireachtas does not pass legislation, I am not quite sure where we go in terms of dealing with the DG for competition and our clear legal requirement to wind up the agency by the end of 2025.