Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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93. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to review the role and remit of the National Asset Management Agency, as it enters its final stage of operation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32632/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Section 227(3) of the NAMA Act requires as soon as may be after 31 December 2012 and every 5 years after that while NAMA continues to be in existence, the Minister shall assess the extent to which NAMA has made progress toward achieving its overall objectives, and decide whether continuation of NAMA is necessary having regard to the purposes of this Act.

As has been referred to in numerous responses to Parliamentary Questions, my officials have produced a special report on NAMA's activities in compliance with Section 227, subsection 3, of the NAMA Act. This report was published and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas on 16th July 2014.

Following the completion of the report, and taking into account what NAMA has achieved to date, my officials concluded that:

- NAMA has made significant progress in achieving its overall objectives.

- Based on NAMA's performance to date and its financial projections in light of the strength of current investor interest in Ireland, NAMA is well positioned to achieve its objectives.

- As a result, NAMA's continuation is necessary to achieve these objectives.

Following the completion of the Section 227 Report in July 2014, the NAMA Board also committed to two initiatives in addition to their debt redemption objectives.

The first is to ensure the timely and coherent delivery of key Grade A office, retail and residential space within the Dublin Docklands Strategic Developments Zone (SDZ) and Dublin's Central Business District. NAMA holds an interest in 75% of the 22 hectares of developable land within the Dublin Docklands SDZ and estimate that up to 3.8 million sq. ft. of commercial space and 1,950 apartments could be delivered in all the sites in the Dublin Docklands SDZ in which NAMA has an interest.

The second is to maximise the delivery of residential housing units in areas of most need, specifically through the commitment to deliver 4,500 residential units in Dublin by the end of 2016. NAMA is on course to meet this target and, since 2014, has funded the delivery of more than 1,700 new housing units across 39 sites in the Greater Dublin Area.  This activity has resulted in NAMA funding the delivery of 40% of new housing units in Dublin in 2014 and 50% in the first half of 2015. The Agency has also indicated they will facilitate delivery of new homes elsewhere in the country in line with demand over this period.

These initiatives are entirely consistent with NAMA's core mandate of maximising the return to the taxpayer.  Furthermore the oversight provisions, contained in the Act, also allow me to regularly monitor NAMA's activity, role, and performance towards meetings it's objectives.

For example NAMA's Annual Report and Financial Statements are laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas.  The level of disclosure in NAMA's Annual Report and Financial Statements is comprehensive and professional.  I would encourage anyone interested in the workings and performance of NAMA who have not yet read these reports to take the time to do so as they are a rich source of information regarding NAMA's performance.

In addition, under Section 53 of the NAMA Act, NAMA is also required to submit to me an Annual Statement by 30 September each year setting out its proposed objectives for the following financial year, the scope of activities to be undertaken, its strategies and policies and its proposed use of resources.

NAMA is also required to report to me on a quarterly basis giving detailed information about its loans, its financing arrangements and its income and expenditure. These reports, which also include other information specified under Section 55 of the NAMA Act, track NAMA's progress on a quarterly basis.  For example, the most recent report for Quarter 1 2015 highlighted some key recent achievements on the Dublin Docklands SDZ, Residential, and Social Housing facilitation.

The Chairman and Chief Executive are also accountable to the Committee of Public Accounts (PAC) and other Oireachtas committees and to give evidence to those committees whenever required to do so - and most recently  attended the PAC on 9 July 2015. Transcripts of these appearances are available from the Oireachtas website.

NAMA's accounts are also comprehensively audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. For large parts of the year - typically between September and May C&AG staff are based in the Agency, performing their audit function, with unrestricted access to all its records and files.  The Comptroller and Auditor General has already produced three special reports on NAMA's activities and they have been broadly positive in their assessment of how NAMA is managing its complex business. I note that their upcoming tri-annual review will focus on value for money and will examine some of the Agency's landmark sales processes.

Therefore, given the many oversight provisions already in place, I would not intend to conduct a stand-alone review of NAMA's role and remit prior to the next scheduled Section 227 report, which is due in 2019 - one year prior to NAMA's expected dissolution.