Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Thank you, Acting Chairman. I accept your guidance. I checked this out with a legal individual in Dublin who assured me that what takes place in that jurisdiction is legally disconnected from what happens in this one from that point of view. There is no problem there. I have been interviewed by the National Crime Agency at length on two occasions, in August 2015 and in March 2016, and I can assure the House that it is not hearing anything new today. Trust me on that. I am very hopeful that the National Crime Agency will deal with this affair in the manner in which it should. I am confident that it seeks the truth and I will continue to believe that until proven otherwise.

My appeal today is that the Government take action. There is more bad news coming down the tracks for NAMA. It will get a great deal worse before it gets better. The Government should act now. This has been ongoing for more than a year and the Government has stonewalled most of what I have said in this Chamber. I have asked so many questions it is not funny but I do not believe I received one answer from the Taoiseach or the former Tánaiste on NAMA. I got some answers from NAMA. I know now that some of them, to put it politely, are seriously inaccurate and will prove to be so. This matter will not go away.

I am not seeking to be sensational. I could mention another dozen names of whom the Minister has not heard but I will not do it. However, I will quote from a letter that Cerberus sent to the First Minister, Mr. Peter Robinson, one week before closing the deal on Project Eagle. It outlines the nice cosy relationship it was offering: "Cerberus will release personal and corporate guarantees as a key part of consensual workout plans with cooperative borrowers." The related to when it would take over Project Eagle. It was quite confident it was going to get it because it was not a competitive process. It was the only body in the game. The letter continues:

Cerberus' underwriting of the Loan Books has not, to date, included the value of any assets other than the direct collateral assets securing the loans, and as mentioned above we would be willing to waive guarantees for cooperative borrowers who agree to execute a consensual workout plan. Assuming the applicable borrowers cooperate in good faith in connection with such a workout plan and their agreement regarding a consensual restructuring transaction, any and all contingent liabilities and or personal guarantees from the Borrowers would then be released in accordance with the terms of the plan. Consequently, only the assets which are the principal subject or collateral for the underlying debt would be retained as security. The existing guarantees would be released so they would no longer be an impediment to borrowers or grantors from undertaking new business ventures.

It would have been lovely if the Irish people who ended up with Cerberus had received that offer. A different game has been played out in the North. What happened there is that a deal was done in advance behind closed doors.

When Cerberus paid 27 pence in the pound for Project Eagle, with the other 73 pence being picked up by the Irish people in the South, it knew what it would get for the assets because the whole thing was sorted well in advance. It stinks to high heaven. It could offer a cosy deal like this because it was not a competitive process. It had people working for it in Dublin and the North to make sure this was one of the great deals of all time. That is a fact.

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