Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the issue, which has been raised a number of times in the Dáil. I congratulate Deputy Michael McGrath on consistently pursuing it. At stake here is the integrity of the State. The integrity of the State is being called into question. We have consistently been trying to highlight the need for an independent investigation established by the Houses of the Oireachtas, which established NAMA, to ensure the integrity of NAMA and the sales process but, more importantly, the integrity of the State, is vindicated. The idea that we can sit on our hands and pretend that there is not, at least, concern regarding the disposal of Project Eagle assets in Northern Ireland is untenable. The idea that £7 million could be in a bank account in the Isle of Man as a fixer's fee and that the vendor is not overly concerned does not stack up. It does not have credibility.

If we are serious about insisting on the highest standards in the State and its agencies, a commission of investigation is essential to ensure there is a full investigation with sweeping powers of access to documentation which can ensure the sales process for Project Eagle was not compromised, to say the very least. I know no other situation in which a fixer's fee is found in a bank account destined for people who were involved at the periphery in putting together organisations that were expressing an interest in assets owned by NAMA in Northern Ireland.

Some 850 properties from approximately 55 borrowers were bundled together. This bundle would have had a face value of approximately €5 billion. By the time discounts and everything flowing from them were taken into account, NAMA was able to purchase the bundle for €2 billion. It ended up selling it for approximately €1.6 billion. By any stretch of the imagination, very few people, entities or organisations would have the capacity or capability to bid for such a large portfolio. I am gravely concerned because in my view, leaving aside the discovery of £7 million in a bank account in the Isle of Man, this certainly calls into question the integrity of the process. It is not acceptable to me that we would lump the whole lot into a single portfolio and expect that bidders would come from all over to purchase it. NAMA, which has a bit of form in this regard, would applaud itself. Indeed, the Government parties would applaud it even though they initially opposed it. When we were establishing NAMA, the current Tánaiste, Deputy Burton, was apoplectic with rage. She nearly fell over the barriers in here from time to time. She said during the campaign that if she was elected and put in a position of responsibility, she would put manners on NAMA by disbanding it. I suggest that the Minister of State and his colleagues have developed Stockholm syndrome. They have been captured.

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