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Updated 17.15
THE DÁIL PUBLIC Accounts Committee (PAC) has this afternoon published its report on the sale of Nama’s northern Irish property portfolio, otherwise known as Project Eagle, and declared the strategy behind the sale as being “seriously deficient”.
PAC likewise claims in its report that Nama lost €800 million in relation to the loan portfolio between the years 2010 and 2014.
That €800 million includes the roughly £162 million sterling (€185 million) lost by Nama on the sale itself, a figure acknowledged by the chief executive of Nama Brendan McDonagh in his testimony before the committee last September.
Nama has this evening defended itself from the report’s conclusions, saying that no other strategy “would have delivered a better financial outcome”, and that it had taken”full advantage of an unexpected commercial opportunity that emerged during the second half of 2013 to sell the Northern Ireland debtor loans as one portfolio”.
“Nama also disputes the suggestion that an additional estimated £190 million could have been realised from an alternative sales process. No independent, third-party market-based analysis has been sought by, or provided to, the committee to support either of these contentions,” this agency said in a statement.
It was the board’s commercial and considered judgement, in full knowledge of the financial implications, that this sale provided a better financial outcome than any alternative monetisation strategy. That was the board’s view in 2014 and it remains the board’s view today.
Controversy
The sale of the portfolio has been a source of mounting controversy for a number of years now.
The report today claims:
The report includes, among other things, a strongly worded letter from Minister for Finance Michael Noonan to the committee contesting its suggestion that his meeting in March 2014 with the US fund Cerberus (which eventually bought the portfolio in April 2014 for €1.6 billion) was “inappropriate”.
Noonan had sought a right of reply from the committee regarding its conclusions over his own actions.
This afternoon Noonan refuted “certain findings” of the report.
“I note that my letter has been included with the report. It is disappointing that unjustified and unfounded views have made their way into the final iteration,” the minister said in a statement,” he said.
I refute absolutely the validity of any suggestion that I or my officials acted inappropriately in meeting with Cerberus in March 2014. At no point was I or my officials invited to discuss this meeting at the PAC nor was the alleged impropriety of this meeting raised in follow-up correspondence.
The note of the meeting with Cerberus is on the Department of Finance’s website and is clear in stating that any issue relating to Nama should be raised directly with Nama.
“It is entirely appropriate that I as Minister for Finance would meet with the Chairman of a major international investment fund, a former US Secretary of the Treasury no less, at his request whilst he was in Dublin on business. This is part of the job of a Minister for Finance,” he added.
Committee member (and Fine Gael TD) Peter Burke likewise appeared to back the minister and declared that he disagreed with the finding that Noonan’s actions were inappropriate.
Indeed, there appears to be a deal of partisan dispute on the committee as to the report’s interpretation of Noonan’s actions.
Sinn Féin TD and committee member David Cullinane meanwhile said that “good judgement” should have shown that the minister’s actions were “procedurally inappropriate”.
Independent TD Mick Wallace has claimed that the Project Eagle sale undervalued the portfolio by as much as €3 billion.
The PAC’s inquiry into the loan sale was first announced last July. A separate report from the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), meanwhile, released last September, concluded that Nama lost €220 million on the sale, a view today backed by the PAC.
The report concluded that the C&AG report was “evidence-based, balanced, and reasonable”.
Additional reporting Cormac Fitzgerald
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800 millions lost, not one single person will be held accountable, rotten to the core
We don’t do accountability in Ireland full stop……….
You can’t be fired for incompetence from the lowest level to the top level of our public services. How can we expect excellence when mediocrity is isn’t punished, quite the opposite it’s more likely to be rewarded with a golden handshake and a pension for life? Like our financial regulator who was asleep at the wheel for years and is now enjoying a gold plated pension courtesy of the taxpayers.
David its downright corruption…..dont be excusing criminal activity on the part of the ruling elite
Absolutely disgusting behaviour by Fine Gael,Fianna Fail and the Labour party facilitating the rape and pillage of this country of ours.
Noonan should resign over this. Its disgraceful that he will stay on as a finance minister when he is corrupt to the core, handing out sweet deals to his buddies at the cost of the taxpayer
Ah sure it’s only 4 million a week over half a million a day sure what’s the problem hey, seriously the lot should be sacked and held to account, everyday people can’t even get away with the price of a TV licence,
Whispering Mickey and the rest of our establishment political class will never be found wanting when the powerful need enriching or the weak need crushing. Any ordinary person who votes for FG, FF, Labour or bogus Independents is complicit in their own exploitation.
@TheGor Gorry: Valid point, I’d rather call it Project Pigeon. Because a rat with wings has managed to escape being held accountable for this mess. And all we did was to send the equivalent of Dick Dastardly and his Vulture Squadron to find out what happened.
Sure isn’t NOONAN a great man altogether… it must be great to just give away €800 million when your not accountable ,,, & tell the EU that you don’t need Apples money …. sure things are just fine lads , there’s more money in the public coffers ,, sure help yourselves
@D H: Limerick voters have a lot to answer for re-electing the lackey of the Vulture funds, Bankers, Developers,and the rest of the parasite’s that live off the backs of the workers who produce the good’s and services that society depends on. The money merchant’s produce nothing only use other people’s money kindly lent to them by their Bankers,to speculate on property deals etc. And of course when their greed finally catches up with them they go bust, and guess what their debt’s are socialized by the like’s of Noonan and the rest of the gombeen establishment political classes EG, Cowen.
@Benjy Mooney:
“Any ordinary person who votes for FG, FF, Labour or bogus Independents is complicit in their own exploitation.”
And if you vote for the AAA/PBP now known as “Solidarity with everyone else’s profits”, you will definitely be exploited.
Remind us Goofy? Was it Solidarity who ransacked the country and bailed out the banks with € 100 + billion of the people’s money? Who are fighting to protect Apple form their € 19 billion tax bill? Or who have invited in the vultures to throw families on to the streets to enrich themselves? Take your time now whispering Mickey Noonan.
This is Ireland…and there will be no public outcry or street marches
@James Doyle ….our little democracy is rotten to the core. Our main parties fg and ff have the family votes sown up, they have the gobsh!te votes sown up and until we the people break their stranglehold on government , we have no hope of getting a government to run the country for the people rather than the bankers and developers
Another €800 million down the drain.
Well done Fine Gael.
@Emmet O’Keeffe: that money may have been denied to the Irish state but it didn’t go down the drain. Lot of deep pockets about.
€800M down the drain and huge property portfolio sold to vulture funds. Slow hand clap for FG /FF.
The frustrating thing is they will build a few council houses, far too late and try to take the credit for any improvements in the homeless situation.
A problem they caused!!
Good old Ireland.
I’d say noonan was creaming himself meeting the head of that fund like he was the day trump arrived. Doing favours for the rich is how some of our politicians make themselves feel important.
Don’t see him so eager to meet his own citizens in need.
@Emmet O’Keeffe: FF are the crowd of spanners that set NAMA up. Then the geniuses in FG sold everything a too low a price.
@The Edge: FF set it up for the same purpose that FG used it for. Enrich the cronies.
We had TDs in the Dail shouting that the whole deal was rotten to the core and that the government should stop it proceeding. FG/Labour buried their heads and ignoerd the warnings, and the fact that there were 2 criminal investigations n other jurisdictions in relation to the debacle.
It would be nice to know how many beneficiaries of our lost €800,000,000 will be shaking hands with noonan at the next bilderberg meeting.
And we all see where Labour are now
@Tony. On American TV calling Trump a Fascist..
@The Risen: We’ll all be outraged for a while, we’ll do nothing and nothing changes.
Ff set Nama up we should remember that.
The Government were demanding hard working people should be paying water charges yet this fiasco was going on.. The tip of the iceberg is the €800 million figure. People should be thrown in jail and pensions gone over this, but it’s Ireland we’re talking about. Golden handshakes will be the order of the day and it will be all brushed under the carpet with the help of their buddies in the media..
@Cosmo Kramer:
Worthy of a police investigation in Britain. Hell, even the FBI felt compelled to get involved.
Not in the Republic of Ireland though.
Down here white collar crime is ignored, actually it’s positively encouraged through tax breaks at times.
@Emmet O’Keeffe: God help you if you got a couple of weeks Social Welfare you weren’t entitled to.
Someone with connections made 800 million of taxpayers money should be the headline.
The question is how responsible is michael noon for the loss of this 800 million i would say 100%
@Richard Doherty: But, but, but NAMA is independent of the Dept of Finance isn’t it?
And it’ll all be swept under the carpet and forgotten about before kenny returns
PAC are doing some good work. Noonan should be gone on foot of this report.
Like hell he will Jane,,,, he’ll be off to the next BILDEBERG CONFERENCE to get patted on the back fir such a good job done
That €800mn would have paid for the children’s hospital. Unbelievable.
Project Eagle. NI politicians drove this deal. Irish Banks couldn’t be seen to recover the debts. Irish tax payers pay the Bill.
Now the same Irish government is pushing a fisheries amendment Bill next week that will be operation Sea Eagle.
Push the Irish fishermen on to the rocks so UK boats can fish our foreshore.
Hardly surprising given their background and allegiances
DUP-FG alliance.
Country is stinking, rotten to the very core. Time for an election, not ideal but there is just too much going on between homelessness, NAMA, nursing, transport, Tusla, trolleys, An Post, bankers and god knows what I’ve left out!
This is just loss on one major NANA sale There were a dozen others…Battersy power station in London sold for £700 million a year later it went for over a billion…They seemed to be in mad rush to sell everything ignoring the fact they were selling into a rising market…
@John003: It is not that they were sold, it is who they were sold to, for how much, and who was on the selling chain that pocketed the difference.
That’s the real story.
But it will never be investigated.
corruption at its finest,
This is blatant corruption. It should bring down the government and a whole bunch of people should be in jail, including executives of the companies that benefitted. But nothing will happen. People seem to care more about us giving a bowl of shamrocks to a foreign leader than real issues that matter
Won’t be investigated because theres nobody to investigate it. Politicians and judges all went to the same schools and look after their own
That’s great. So what will they do about it?
Terrible corruption again under Mr Noonan’s watch,and it’s still going on.
The most important thing about all these scandals is: what are we doing to prevent them from happening again?
The answer is probably not enough.
All the emphasis will be on the blame game, which is important, but not the entirety of the matter.
€800,000,000.00. And they don’t give a toss
FG and corruption go hand in hand..
It’s not just FG though, is it? I didn’t hear FF and Labour backing Wallace when he tried to raise this. All the northern assembly parties in power must be held accountable also.
The fact that Noonan can get away with this means he knows he can’t be touched. This is not incompetence it is fraud and on this scale should be seen as treason.
Only one way to stop this. Take back our country
It’s not lost somebody’s got it.
800 million Euros. If it was me are you. We would be locked up. Shame on all of you for destroying and giving away OUR money. And yet again using our money for gains for all the civil servants involved. That’s where our pensions have gone. Nama directors should be made pay for this. Jail terms need to happen and fast for these people. I want my pension back.
get out and make your voices heard,people power is the only way to over throw these yobs in suits
Politicians find politicians incompetent. What’ll they do about it. Nothing!
On top of all this, how many developers that owed millions up to billions were chased down for repayment of their monies. All of these guys should be living in a council house now in Ballygobackward.
Instead, not one developer has repaid their loans with many getting up to 90% written off paid by you know who? Yes, YOU
They are still living in their mansions with their 2+ cars and private schools etc. Nothing has changed for these lads. One of the major contributory factors in the crash, these “golden circle” boys are LAUGHING THEIR HOLES OFF AT YOU AND ME. All rubber stamped by FF and FG.
This is a quick comment for those voting ff fg in our centenary year that aren’t wholly indoctrinated: did u win the lotto ? What possible motivation could you have to vote ff or even fg and show that you tolerate this? Disgrace
Ah sure its only taxpayers money ., economics is for the “important ” people . F.G..F.F Labour, Endependents take turns at governing the country and as reported would not run a sweet shop successfully ,never mind a country .All these parties agree with free market economy ,with light touch regulation , Unfortunately the free market means that companies and individuals can get a good deal,rip off, steal ,bribe ,con the brain-dead useless clowns that people voted in, As this is Ireland no one will be fired, held to account ,jailed , but will be rewarded with a large lump sum ,and a massive pension ,clapped on the back ,for their “service ” to their country , Instead of been clapped in handcuffs, all assets seized and jailed , Move on now ,nothing to see or learn here .Pay your taxes, laws are only for the ordinary people ,.
This is gonna bite Fine Gael big time in the ads I most certainly would not like to be a Fine Gaeler backbench td.
“It was the board’s commercial and considered judgement, in full knowledge of the financial implications, that this sale provided a better financial outcome than any alternative monetisation strategy. That was the board’s view in 2014 and it remains the board’s view today.”
If that is the case, you are not fit for the job and should be sacked immediately.
If this were a private company, you would be out on your ear big time with possible litigation to follow.
In Ireland though, they will be given golden handshakes and massive pensions.
The dogs on the street knew the outcome of this corrupt sale long before the committee reached its conclusion.
Please please please vote for an alternative to these corrupt and Evil men.
The net result of all this corruption is lower living standards and less public services.
Enough is enough.
Wow. When you sick back and look we really are being taken as a bunch of idiots. Fine Gael, Labour, Sinn Féin, DUP – it all happened under your guys’ watch.
If only we could rip up that carpet & make everyone accountable, politicians priests nuns ect ect ect…..
Nothing as silent as the sound of rolling heads whenever an Irish scandal is exposed
A lot of people are appointed to jobs in Ireland because they know the right people and not because they are the best qualified. They only get found out when the ship hits the rocks and they have to use their brain which in a lot of cases is below average,
Every Politian & business person who had a deal in this project should be dragged screaming into the arena & made pay the shortfall in this sale of the centaury. You can be sure Pat & Mary who lost their businesses & their houses weren’t given a chance to invest in this project.
Michael Noonan is up to his neck in this give away bonanza, we were all sold down the river for the power of the rich & famous. A full scale investigation has to be carried out on both sides of the border & no stone unturned to find the bad dealers. You can be sure these people were paid huge fees to carry out this giveaway.
Well don to Mick Wallace for blowing the hush-hush on this crime.
The C&AG remind me of the smart ass in the bar who in response to a farmer selling a few cattle in the mart asserted that he would have sold them at a higher price. You take your price on the day as disappointing as it may be there’s no point looking back. Hindsight is the foresight of a gob…..!
Desmo
It’s nearly a billion quid in one sale not to mention the % write down on the bad loans and they were selling this in a fast recovering market.
It’s beyond pathetic.
It’s our money. Why don’t people get annoyed at this, it’s our fecking money they are wasting.
Who says the PAC’s numbers are correct? Wise after the event. A lot of commenters on here giving out about politicians wasting money- but that’s according to another group of politicians. It’s very hard to know what price to hold out for in the middle of a fire sale.
Defends or makes excuses?
have your say