Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We need a very big debate in regard to the direction NAMA is taking, given the fact it has now bunched these loans into projects such as Project Aspen and Project Club. I am glad Project Club has been cancelled because there are serious questions in regard to individuals around that. Given the decision to sell portions of projects instead of individual assets, it is very clear NAMA is now incapable of managing the loans. We were told, from the establishment of NAMA, that it was to pursue developers to the ends of the earth to get the last penny from them. However, if these loans are sold on as they are, below par or at par value, these developers will in many cases walk free from their debts - that is the reality.

We have to ask why NAMA is not using the measures established under the last Finance Bill or the real estate investment trusts, or REITs, legislation, which allows these assets to be transferred, which would have a benefit for the Irish economy, and why it is actually mass-selling projects at this time. Is it incapable of doing its job, which, we must remember, is as an asset management agency, or is there a fundamental shift in the way NAMA is approaching matters? We have seen the cancellation of Project Club. How can we be sure developers who owned the original loans are not advising potential bidders? What is there to stop that? The Minister knows I have put down a number of parliamentary questions in this regard and I am glad these assets have been brought off the market since then.

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