Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It has been eight weeks since the Taoiseach agreed with other party leaders to initiate a commission of investigation into the sale of the Northern Ireland loan portfolio, Project Eagle. At the time, the view was that the investigation would not have to wait for the PAC investigation to conclude. Last week I submitted a letter to NAMA's chairman, Frank Daly. I named 20 individuals who work for NAMA who may have engaged in serious malpractice and I asked how many have been reported to An Garda Síochána under section 19 of the Criminal Justice Act. I am still waiting for a reply.

The Committee of Public Accounts has been examining the Comptroller and Auditor General's report for the past two months. The way in which NAMA and the Department of Finance treated the Comptroller and Auditor General has been shocking. NAMA and the Department of Finance have contradicted each other. They have been twisting and turning, ducking and diving in their efforts to undermine the Comptroller and Auditor General and his excellent report.

Cerberus representatives will come before the Committee of Public Accounts this afternoon. I am sure they will do fine, but does the Minister not believe it would be more fitting if they were going to the Garda bureau of fraud investigation in Harcourt Street to be questioned?

PIMCO pulled out of Project Eagle on 13 March 2014. Cerberus, Brown Rudnick and Tughans, which had worked for PIMCO on 24 March, lodged their bid on 1 April, six working days later, and crossed the line two days later on 3 April. It was £15 million for Brown Rudnick, Tughans and God knows who else - nice money, thanks very much. What was it for? Inside information from the cabal of Cushnahan, Watters and Hanna? The only other bidder, Fortress, was not even allowed to hire local real estate valuers. It was not a competitive process; it was a scam.

NAMA has undersold a massive slice of this country to US vulture funds for a fraction of its value. It is contributing in a serious way to our housing crisis. It is not part of the solution to the housing crisis; it is part of the problem. Will this Government suspend the NAMA board and the executive pending a thorough commission of investigation into all of its workings? This issue will in time prove to be the biggest financial scandal in the history of the State.

Last weekend, I travelled to Asia to meet a businessman who contacted me through NAMA leaks. I went to collect documents and e-mails. Within a short time of Frank Cushnahan being appointed to NAMA, he was peddling assets belonging to NAMA to foreign parts. Tughans was involved. The Japanese bank, NOMURA, was involved, which was later the main financier for Cerberus's purchase of Project Eagle. NAMA, from start to finish, stinks to high heaven. Will the Minister indicate when we will have a commission of investigation, and will the Government suspend the NAMA board and executive until we get that investigation?

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