Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

NAMA is an independent organisation established under law by this House and the Seanad. It is a criminal offence for anyone, including the Minister for Finance, to try to steer or influence a commercial decision being made by NAMA. NAMA is accountable and, for example, it must produce quarterly reports. The report on the last quarter of 2011 will be published tomorrow. NAMA is also amenable to scrutiny by the Committee of Public Accounts. The chairman and the chief executive of NAMA can be called before the Committee of Public Accounts in the normal way.

The Comptroller and Auditor General, under law, has a special auditing relationship with NAMA and he and his team can go into NAMA and examine every piece of paper in there to see if everything was done properly and appropriately. NAMA is also amenable to other committees of the House and an annual report is published. There is accountability and Deputies should exercise it. Furthermore, if there is concern about a specific aspect of NAMA's work, it is within the power of the Comptroller and Auditor General to scrutinise any aspect of it. He is not obliged to wait for the production of the annual report from his office but rather the Comptroller and Auditor General can undertake an examination of any aspect of NAMA's work.

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