Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste stated that this is a Northern tale. She stated that it was being dealt with by a committee of the Assembly. She then conceded that the Government is not co-operating with the Northern Assembly committee - that NAMA has refused to appear before it, as has the Minister.

I received, as a result of a freedom of information request, the briefing pack for Ministers on this issue. It states that the conflation of the issues involved in this is dangerous. It also states, and the Tánaiste has ignored this although it has been the main thrust of my question and the main thrust of our concerns, that the concern was that fees were to be paid to a Mr. Cushnahan who was a former member of NAMA's Northern Ireland advisory committee and that this would constitute a clear conflict of interest and would cause reputational damage to all involved. That is the core it. Fixer's fees of £15 million were to be paid and this person has been named as one of those who was to be a recipient.

The chairman of NAMA, Mr. Frank Daly, says he briefed the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, in full on this £15 million fixer's fee, yet the Minister, Deputy Noonan, failed to suspend the sales process. He failed to inform the Office of the First Minister and the Office of the Deputy First Ministers. Apparently, these matters were also brought to the Taoiseach's attention in a letter in February 2014. Yesterday, the Taoiseach refused to confirm this. Can the Tánaiste confirm it? The businessman, Mr. Gareth Graham, has testified that he possesses thousands of recordings of phone calls by Mr. Frank Cushnahan, exposing inappropriate and, possibly, illegal conduct. This is, as the Tánaiste said, being investigated by the Assembly finance committee and the police. The US Department of Justice is also investigating it. The Irish Government is defending it despite the move by all these agencies to address these matters.

The Tánaiste is the second most senior member of the Government. We know there is a crisis in housing and a crisis across a range of matters that are pressing down on citizens.

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