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

As the Taoiseach knows, since last July we have been raising serious concerns about the Project Eagle deal, which involved the sale of the Northern Ireland portfolio by NAMA. Deputy Wallace has been very persistent in asking these questions as well. I put it to the Taoiseach in July that there is an ethical consideration here because it is not good enough for NAMA to say that everything is okay on its side, but there may have been issues on the side of the purchasers. The fundamental point for the Government and NAMA to consider is that the entirety of the deal must pass a basic ethics test. That there is £7.5 million lying in an offshore account makes me seriously concerned about whether this deal passes that ethics test. Given that this involves the sale of an asset belonging to the Irish taxpayer, the Government in this jurisdiction should be extremely concerned about what happened in the entirety of the deal. The Minister, Deputy Noonan, has said on the record that he wanted to accelerate the sale of the NAMA loan book generally. We suspected at the time that for political reasons he wanted to close it down in order that he could declare before the general election that NAMA was gone or whatever. There is no doubt there has been an acceleration of many of the loans on NAMA's book.

There was a further twist in the tale in the Irish Newsyesterday.

A letter written by Mr. David Watters, an accountant, to the managing director of Tughans solicitors, the firm involved in Northern Ireland on Project Eagle, was published in the Irish News. In the first sentence Mr. Watters says that he is writing "to lay claim to the acquisition fee of £7.5m your firm currently holds." He goes on to give the background to this claim, saying that he was responsible for what was originally called Project Amani and then Project Eagle. He says that the fee of £7.5 million was ultimately to be paid to a vehicle specifically formed for the purpose called Cadogan Futures LLP in November 2010. It seems that a group of individuals - shadowy individuals - were meeting behind closed doors-----

See this speech in context