Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I asked the Taoiseach last week would he set up a commission of investigation, and he said, "No". The Committee of Public Accounts would be the job, he said. There is a significant difference between the UK's National Crime Agency and the Committee of Public Accounts in terms of capacity, power, expertise etc. What is dramatic is the contrast between how the UK authorities are approaching this and how the Taoiseach and the Government are approaching it. It is quite a dramatic contrast in terms of the respective responses from the two jurisdictions.

Second, it is about ethics and whether the deal is done ethically. NAMA seems to be saying if everything is okay on the seller's side, it is not really responsible or too bothered about what happens on the purchaser's side. It satisfies NAMA that it got the best value for money, so the agency thinks. I would submit to the Taoiseach that it is equally important that we all, including NAMA, are satisfied that a deal is ethically completed, and one gets concerned when one learns, as NAMA and the Minister learned, that one's former adviser is about to get a substantial sum for assisting in closing the sale of the largest property deal on this island. As members of the committee stated last week, it is shocking.

See this speech in context