Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend the work of the Committee of Public Accounts and in particular that of my colleagues, Deputies Cullinane and McDonald, as well as the work of the former Finance Minister in the North, Maírtín Ó Muilleoir, who worked tirelessly to bring this scandal to light. I also recognise the role the late Martin McGuinness play in regard to the committee.

Almost three years ago on 15 April 2014 I asked the Minister the first question that was asked in this House about the sale of Project Eagle and what I got in response was the usual waffle. It is important that we ask ourselves to imagine how different things could have been and would have been, had the Minister for Finance answered the question I asked instead of deflecting it away. I asked him directly about the number of bidders. Imagine if, instead of avoiding that question, he had been upfront and had told us the information that was at his and at NAMA's disposal at that time, namely, that a bidder had withdrawn because of allegations of fixer's fees. Imagine if he had told us that bidders had withdrawn because they knew that other bidders had an advantage, having access to the data room. I asked the Minister if he had instructed NAMA to sell the loan book and imagine if, instead of the nonsense he gave me in terms of improved market conditions in NAMA, he had responded to that question, had been upfront and honest with me and with this House and had told us that the approach came from three individuals, from Frank Cushnahan, Tughans and Brown Rudnick. Imagine if we knew that the approach had come from two of the vulture funds acting on their behalf, information that the Minister and NAMA knew at that point in time. Imagine if he told us that politicians in the North were lobbying him in respect of that. All of this information was known at that time but the Minister chose not to disclose it to this House. Now, three years later, the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Committee of Public Accounts are clear that the process has cost the Irish people a probable loss of €230 million.

The Minister has come out swinging here today but it is indefensible, without a shadow of a doubt, that he met the bidder so close to the sale. It is appalling if he threatened to injunct the members of the Committee of Public Accounts. We believed on this side of the House that those tactics were left to Denis O'Brien. When I asked the question about the sale, that sale was not formally concluded. It was announced but it was not formally concluded. There was time at that time to admit that the process had been corrupted, time to withdraw the State from the sale that was mired in dirt and controversy. Instead of taking that opportunity to be transparent, the Minister blustered through by giving a non-response. Transparency was to be avoided at all costs.

Commercial sensitivity and other clichés were used when the Government decided that the people did not deserve-----

See this speech in context