Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

To establish finality in this matter, it was essential to establish the National Asset Management Agency. Accountants examining a bank's books are very dependent on the word of the institution and its officials in arriving at their conclusions. There is no suggestion the accountancy firm in question was in any way conflicted by the institution; I assume it was reliant on information supplied by the bank's own officials and management. Until NAMA was established, it was difficult to get to the bottom of the exposures in the banking system.

The announcement I made last Easter on the preliminary assessment made by NAMA of the banks' exposures was also reliant on information supplied by the institutions themselves. It was only until NAMA, as required by legislation, was able to conduct an individual valuation of each loan that the true extent of the exposures was established.

With regard to the figures that were supplied on 30 September, these were supplied following very detailed consultations regarding Anglo Irish Bank between NAMA and the new board and management in place at Anglo Irish Bank, the regulator's view on the capital required and the National Treasury Management Agency's assessment. All of these bodies participated in the computation of the final figure for NAMA and, as the Deputy knows, the transfer of assets to NAMA was accelerated through an accelerated valuation procedure.

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