David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I note the advice. With respect, I am making a statement of fact. We had a situation where a member of the Northern Ireland Advisory Committee of NAMA met with senior members of the DUP when he was due to be in receipt of a fixer's fee and a success fee, long before any reverse inquiry was made to NAMA by PIMCO. The origins of this deal were very clear.

This is a corrupted process. Project Eagle was undoubtedly a corrupted process. The terms of reference of the Committee of Public Accounts did not allow it to examine all these issues. We now know that a member of the Northern Ireland advisory committee, NIAC, was in line for a fixer's fee, was involved in meetings with senior DUP Ministers, including the then leader of the DUP, and had met and was in a business relationship with two international law firms - Brown Rudnick and Tughans - at a time when he was still a member of the NIAC. This was clearly a conflict of interest. We also know that NAMA knew Mr. Cushnahan had an association with six debtors and did not take the appropriate steps to deal with the allegations of conflict of interest, so it is quite obvious to everybody except the Government and Fianna Fáil that we need a full commission of investigation into these matters. This was undoubtedly a corrupted process that warrants a commission of investigation. A number of criminal investigations are already in play in three jurisdictions - the US, Great Britain and Northern Ireland - so there is a responsibility on us to do the right thing. We do not need to wait until the report of the Committee of Public Accounts report is published before we proceed with this commission of investigation.

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