Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The special liquidators are appointed under legislation passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas and are working in accordance with that. That empowered the Minister for Finance to issue instructions. I issued instructions. They have valued everything up to 30 November and are proceeding to sell.

The special liquidators have divided the portfolio initially into tranches and have sold 84% of the first tranche and are involved now in bilateral negotiations with bidders who are marginally below the valued price so it will go above 84%. The level of interest being expressed on the first round on the other portfolios is very high too. While the figure I gave yesterday was a very rough estimate, it looks as if it might fall that way, that approximately half or so will be sold and the other half will go to NAMA. We do not have the actual figure yet.

The Deputy asked a question yesterday which I did not get a chance to answer on the old story of whether, when the liquidation is completed, there will be a black hole and the State have to put in money. That will not happen. The advice from the liquidators now is that they will at least come out of it on an even basis. It is too early to say yet until more sales go through, but the liquidators are confident enough that it will go through.

The Deputy is right to say that when the special liquidator legislation went through, because it was a liquidation, there was a possibility that debtors could buy their own loan books back. They have done that in the first round but because very valuable loan books were put up first, many have bought their own debt back at par and not at the enormous discounts the Deputy describes. There is some discount.

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