Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 222: To ask the Minister for Finance following the recent publication of a special report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, if he will advise when European Commission approval of the National Asset Management Agency's loan acquisitions is expected for tranches three onwards; his views on whether the high level of State-aid identified by the CAG as having been given by NAMA to the participating institutions is preventing the granting of Commission approval. [27952/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Bank assets were acquired by NAMA using a valuation methodology approved by the European Commission and in line with Part 5 of the NAMA Act and valuation regulations made by the Minister for Finance in March 2010. NAMA advise me that final valuation of all Tranches was completed at the end of March 2012 and as final acquisition schedules were completed, they were copied to the European Commission. In the meantime, auditors for NAMA and for the Central Bank have been carrying out due diligence work on the transfers. I expect that work to be completed shortly. Following that my Department will be in a position to submit, in tandem with a report from the Central Bank, final notifications to the European Commission. At that point, the timing of approval for Tranches 3 onwards will become a matter for the European Commission.

With that in mind, I have no reason to believe that questions of State aid involved in the NAMA scheme is a factor in the timing of the approval process.