Fianna Fáil accused of U-turn on Nama Project Eagle inquiry

Independents 4 Change TD Mick Wallace and Clare Daly have strongly criticised Fianna Fáil for reversing its decision to support their call for a commission of investigation into Nama's Project Eagle portfolio.

Mr Wallace asked if the party had been “got to” or had done a deal with the Government given that Fianna Fáil had said it would support the proposal and had brought a similar one to the Dáil six months ago.

Ms Daly said Fianna Fáil was effectively saying that every jurisdiction with a partial involvement in the issue could have an investigation except the State that “owns the assets and whose taxpayers are paying the price”.

Mr Wallace said Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath had said in October 2015 he was “more convinced than ever that a full investigation is required”.

He accused Mr McGrath of hiding behind the Government which was hiding behind the awaited report of the Comptroller & Auditor General value-for-money report on Nama.

But Mr McGrath said he wanted to assure Mr Wallace “there is no deal and we have not been got to by any powerful agencies”.

He said, however, that a commission of investigation “would run into the sand very quickly indeed because of arrests being made in Northern Ireland”.

He added: “It would be a breach of public trust if this House was to engage in anything that would hinder” the ongoing criminal investigation.

There were heated exchanges between Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty and Mr McGrath after Mr Doherty asked what price Fianna Fáil had been bought for in reversing its decision.

They were speaking in the Dáil debate on the private member’s motion brought by Independents 4 Change calling for a commission of investigation with a deadline to report, into the sale by Nama of the Northern Ireland loan book portfolio.

Alice in Wonderland

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan challenged the Independents 4 Change TDs to "make the allegations outside the House if you're so sure of your ground".

Mr Noonan said Ms Daly wanted the commission established as a “trawling exercise”. He said he was reminded of Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter who said “verdict first, trial afterwards”.

Project Eagle involved a portfolio of 850 properties across Ireland and in England, based on loans involving 55 Northern Ireland-based borrowers. Nama bought the loans for €2 billion and sold them to US investment fund Cerberos for €1.6 million. Mr Wallace claimed the portfolio was sold at a “horrifically uncompetitive” rate.

Former member of the Nama’s Northern Ireland advisory group Frank Cushnahan and Nama’s asset recovery manager Ronnie Hanna at the time of the Project Eagle sale were arrested and are on bail as part of a fraud investigation by the UK’s National Crime Agency.

Mr Wallace said the Government might have thrown Frank Cushnahan “under the bus” but it could not do so with Mr Hanna as Nama’s assets recovery manager.

Fixer’s fee

Ms Daly told Mr Noonan he and the Government had resisted an investigation because “you are the one who had the power to stop it but rather than stopping it you chose to insist that it go ahead”.

She said weeks before the deal went ahead, one of the bidders Pimco told Nama there was €15 million in fixer’s fee. “Nama told you and you insisted that the deal would go ahead.”

She said the failure of Nama to deal with this and the extent of the involvement of the Department of Finance and the minister needed to be questioned. She asked Mr Noonan: “What did you know, what should you have known? What do you know now? What action did you take?”

Mr Noonan said it was the role of the gardaí to determine if there were grounds for a criminal investigation in this jurisdiction. “To my knowledge no such investigation is being pursued by the gardaí.”

He added that if there were specific allegations of wrongdoing that are appropriate for a commission of investigation “make them known to this House” or to the relevant authority in the appropriate jurisdiction.