Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State spoke about rumours and speculation. The Fianna Fáil leader, Deputy Micheál Martin, describing the Government’s refusal to act on the matter in question as not tenable, said, "As revelations emerge, and as the levels of the investigations get deeper, the Government's position in relation to the sale of Project Eagle by NAMA is, in my view, more untenable by the day.” He also claimed there are huge ethical questions over the sale of the portfolio and predicted new explosive evidence will emerge in the coming weeks. He claimed, “the deal is tainted, of that there can be no question". That is from Deputy Micheál Martin who is in an arrangement with the party opposite to keep it in government. Several months ago, the Fianna Fáil finance spokesperson, Deputy Michael McGrath, called for an independent commission of inquiry and stated the Government could not hide behind the Comptroller and Auditor General.

As I am not into rumours or speculation, I will stick to the report of the Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for Finance and Personnel which managed to publish a report on this matter, notwithstanding a criminal investigation being under way into the matter. There are only 18 pages in the report which is in good plain English. Perhaps the leader of the Green Party, Deputy Eamon Ryan, might look at it as well. The committee report stated:

The committee found the refusal of NAMA to attend an oral evidence session particularly unhelpful. NAMA needed to be more open and accessible given the importance of the Project Eagle portfolio [some 850 properties] to the Northern Ireland economy. The committee does not accept NAMA’s rationale for not attending hearings.

The report is divided into nine lessons identified to date, evidence outstanding and areas requiring further scrutiny. Regarding lessons to be learned, the committee found meetings were not minuted, there was insufficient professional advice and serious questions arose over the nominations to the advice committee in Northern Ireland. The committee noted “with regret the decision of the NAMA board not to suspend the Project Eagle sales process once PIMCO had disclosed to the agency in March 2014 ... PIMCO’s proposed fee arrangement” with the two legal companies and the third party of €15 million. The report continued:

While it does not fall to this committee to pursue [it is aware of its limitations], given the seriousness of the revelation by PIMCO, it is unclear why the Irish Government’s Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, did not intervene at this point [when PIMCO made it aware of what was happening], by exercising his general powers of direction over NAMA to suspend the sales process until matters were investigated fully.

The committee’s report stated:

In the case of the Irish Government and NAMA, the available information suggests shortcomings in the handling of the bidding process and related decisions. It is therefore imperative that the lessons identified to date are acted on as applicable.

Notwithstanding it had difficulty getting witnesses to attend, this committee was able to make certain findings while acknowledging the facts were unclear. It was able to set out what was unclear and clear. Accordingly, I have no hesitation in supporting Deputy Mick Wallace’s motion. I congratulate him because it has been extremely difficult to keep working on this, particularly in light of the turnaround by Fianna Fáil which had given every indication it would support the motion. I deplore the actions of Fianna Fáil on this matter. Many times in the courts it has been said that there would be no need for tribunals or expensive court cases if questions were not just asked but answered.

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