As the Taoiseach knows, since last July we have been raising serious concerns about the Project Eagle deal, which involved the sale of the Northern Ireland portfolio by NAMA. Deputy Wallace has been very persistent in asking these questions as well. I put it to the Taoiseach in July that there is an ethical consideration here because it is not good enough for NAMA to say that everything is okay on its side, but there may have been issues on the side of the purchasers. The fundamental point for the Government and NAMA to consider is that the entirety of the deal must pass a basic ethics test. That there is £7.5 million lying in an offshore account makes me seriously concerned about whether this deal passes that ethics test. Given that this involves the sale of an asset belonging to the Irish taxpayer, the Government in this jurisdiction should be extremely concerned about what happened in the entirety of the deal. The Minister, Deputy Noonan, has said on the record that he wanted to accelerate the sale of the NAMA loan book generally. We suspected at the time that for political reasons he wanted to close it down in order that he could declare before the general election that NAMA was gone or whatever. There is no doubt there has been an acceleration of many of the loans on NAMA's book.

There was a further twist in the tale in the Irish News yesterday.

A letter written by Mr. David Watters, an accountant, to the managing director of Tughans solicitors, the firm involved in Northern Ireland on Project Eagle, was published in the Irish News. In the first sentence Mr. Watters says that he is writing "to lay claim to the acquisition fee of £7.5m your firm currently holds." He goes on to give the background to this claim, saying that he was responsible for what was originally called Project Amani and then Project Eagle. He says that the fee of £7.5 million was ultimately to be paid to a vehicle specifically formed for the purpose called Cadogan Futures LLP in November 2010. It seems that a group of individuals - shadowy individuals - were meeting behind closed doors-----

A question, please.

-----stitching up this deal as far back as 2010, the ultimate goal being to get it into one bundle, after which people would use contacts to interest investment funds and so forth.

The Deputy's time is up.

Mr. Watters said that "at this point I felt assured that £7.5m would be paid to Cadogan Futures LLP." He talks about a meeting on 4 July 2013 at Tughans. This letter was sent to Mr. Frank Cushnahan with a cover letter. Mr. Cushnahan was a member of the Northern Ireland advisory committee to NAMA. The more that unravels regarding this deal, the more genuine concern is generated. There are lots of allegations flying wildly about, but we do know some facts. We know that there is £7.5 million lying in an offshore account to be picked up by third parties. We know Pimco originally raised the red flag about this in terms of concerns about fees paid to third parties. We know that. Pimco says it subsequently pulled out voluntarily, but NAMA says it forced Pimco out.

A question, please. Thank you.

The same sets of solicitors were involved with Cerberus too. The bottom line is this: why is the Government ignoring this issue and essentially giving comfort to NAMA to put up a wall and not to engage fully in the investigation in Northern Ireland?

Thank you.

Why is the Government determined to try to make this go away? All I would say is that the evidence suggests that it is not going to go away and the Taoiseach has a responsibility to follow it up.

That is not the view of the Government at all. That is why there are two investigations going on here. This is a very serious matter. There is a political parliamentary commission looking at it and a police commission looking at it. There are also interests from the United States looking at it. NAMA appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts last week and gave a very detailed account of the procedures. Deputy Martin is right that £7 million has been identified in an account in the Isle of Man. Who was this destined for? Allegations have been made about personnel who were to be the alleged recipients of that money. That is why there are two investigations going on now.

From the point of view of the sale, NAMA has been very clear and forthright. It has provided all of the relevant documentation and the Minister for Finance has said that, notwithstanding the fact that the investigations are being conducted in a different jurisdiction, whatever paperwork, assistance or information is required from NAMA is being made available. I hope the investigations on two fronts can lead to the truth behind the £7 million finder's fee, an extraordinary figure, in an account in the Isle of Man and whom it might be destined for.

It is not the case that the Government does not wish to have this matter concluded and dealt with transparently and with full accountability. As far as the Minister for Finance, the Department and NAMA are concerned, co-operation and assistance are absolutely forthcoming. As I have said to Deputy Mick Wallace on a number of occasions, if there is evidence of wrongdoing then the opportunity is there to bring that to the notice of the authorities immediately, and I hope that happens.

The Taoiseach knows that the Northern Ireland Committee for Finance and Personnel and the Committee of Public Accounts are not going to get to the bottom of this. The letter I referred to earlier was written by the same gentleman who said, with regard to the Northern Ireland inquiry, that "Unsupported testimony provided yesterday at Stormont claimed I was due to receive a fee from monies paid to an Isle of Man account. That is completely false. I had no role in it, and was in no way party to, the issuance of this fee. Additionally, and for the avoidance of any doubt, I had no direct or indirect involvement in the Project Eagle transaction." That is from the same gentleman whose letter was published yesterday in the Irish News. That committee clearly is not going anywhere.

NAMA is under the Government's jurisdiction. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, was made aware of the concerns, including those of Pimco, but said he did not press the pause button. He did not tell NAMA to press the pause button either, but he should have, given the ethical issues that were raised and the knowledge that existed about fee payments to third parties-----

A question, please, Deputy.

-----which were clearly of such concern to all involved that the original successful bidder, Pimco, had to withdraw. NAMA's defence at the Committee of Public Accounts was that people could not expect it, notwithstanding those concerns, to have pulled the deal, which could have undermined the price. In other words, the price justifies whatever happened. NAMA is under the Taoiseach's jurisdiction and he can set up a statutory commission of investigation which has full compellability. In my view, that would be the honourable thing to do right now, but I can see that everyone wants to avoid that. NAMA wants to avoid it, as does the Government, but it is an essential step because NAMA will not go to Northern Ireland, which is appalling. NAMA has said that it will give evidence in private to the Northern Ireland parliamentary committee. Why does it want to give evidence in private? Why can NAMA not just go up North and give an oral public testimony?

Thank you.

Does the Taoiseach approve of NAMA not giving an oral public testimony to the Northern Ireland inquiry? He should not give me stuff about it sending documents up. Why will it not go up there?

Okay, Deputy. We are over time.

That is like the European Central Bank's sort of leithscéal - we are not answerable to the Irish Parliament but to the European Parliament and we will not turn up to the Irish banking inquiry. NAMA borrows from the ECB's book and says it is not liable in Northern Ireland and is not under that jurisdiction. I do not think that is tenable. Does the Taoiseach think it is?

Deputy Martin is taking a very simplistic view of something that is very complex.

Deputy Martin was only trying to help the Taoiseach.

NAMA is in this jurisdiction, and under the legislation it is responsible to the Committee of Public Accounts in this House, which reports to the Dáil and the Oireachtas. That committee is chaired by an independent member of the Opposition and is not chaired by a member of the Government. Deputy Martin is aware that NAMA appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts last week and clearly stated that the sales process that was conducted was in line with international best practice. It was conducted independently and overseen by Lazard, a major international bank. NAMA also said that the integrity of the sales process was fully protected and that no external members of the Northern Ireland advisory committee had access to any confidential information in regard to that sale.

Rubbish.

It also said that all bidders had equal access to information.

Also rubbish.

It also said that no third party, political or otherwise, had any influence over the NAMA board's decision on Project Eagle or was in any position to confer an unfair competitive advantage on any bidder. NAMA has fully committed, in this jurisdiction, to responding to any questions the Northern Ireland Committee on Finance and Personnel may have regarding the sale which were not covered during NAMA's appearance before the Committee of Public Accounts on 9 July 2015. We are dealing with two different jurisdictions and two different legal systems. I will give Deputy Martin an example, the case of the Kingsmill massacre, in which information that was available on Garda files here had to be physically transmitted to the coroner in Belfast for his examination after the Government here made a decision that whatever information was available in this jurisdiction would be made available to the authorities in Northern Ireland. There was a difficulty in respect of members of An Garda Síochána being in attendance at the coroner's inquest in Belfast, but the relevant information was made available. The same applies in this case.

The same does not apply.

We are over time now. Thank you.

Last month the Northern Ireland committee submitted a detailed list of questions to NAMA regarding the sales process and NAMA responded on 4 September in detail to each of those questions. The full responses to those questions run to over 300 pages and are on the NAMA website. They were also provided to the Committee of Public Accounts, to which NAMA is responsible in this jurisdiction. I also understand that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, has received a request from the Northern Ireland committee for any documents that are relevant to its investigation, and that the Department of Finance is working on that particular request.

Thank you.

It is a serious matter, but it is not as simple as Deputy Martin claims.

Will the Taoiseach set up a commission of investigation?

Thank you. Deputy McDonald.

Can I get a reply to that question?

Deputy McDonald.

I asked if the Taoiseach would set up a commission of investigation.

I am sorry, but the time is up. I cannot answer. Deputy McDonald.