Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

NAMA's approach to the control and retention of data borders on the criminal. There have been two cases in the past month in this regard. In one case, NAMA has been heavily criticised for its approach to data and information held within the agency. The Data Protection Commissioner found that NAMA was in breach of its obligations under data protection law in its response to a request for data from the O'Flynn group. The O'Flynns had asked for all data on them held by NAMA, which is their right. NAMA initially agreed to undertake a full search for it but 14 months later it told the Data Protection Commissioner that it had decided to do no searches. The Data Protection Commissioner rightly found this completely unacceptable and stated that NAMA was in breach of its statutory functions. It is a shocking case which highlights NAMA's complete disregard for the law, something with which it has no problem.

Another case that was before the courts highlighted that NAMA's approach to records is farcical. NAMA official Peter Malbasha stated that it had no records or minutes of 62 meetings which took place with a developer, despite the fact that the developer saw minutes being taken. NAMA is a law unto itself and nobody is holding it to account.

See this speech in context