Tomorrow, it will be a year to the day since the setting up of the commission of investigation into the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, under Mr. Justice Cooke. The second interim report landed on the Taoiseach's desk last week, which shows that NAMA does what it likes. Mr. Justice Cooke asked NAMA for the 40,000 documents it gave to the Comptroller and Auditor General for his investigation. That was a simple request but NAMA told him it would be too difficult to replicate. He had to ask the Comptroller and Auditor General for his copies. Mr. Justice Cooke then asked NAMA to produce all relevant documentation relating to Project Eagle. NAMA initially agreed and employed a team of solicitors to help it. They said they had created a keyword search system that would filter the relevant documents. NAMA sent over 34,000 documents but it quickly became clear to Mr. Justice Cooke that NAMA was leaving out key documents. To quote from his report, "it became clear to the Commission that the methodology used by NAMA and its agents was not sufficiently reliable to capture confidently, all relevant items". If this was the first time that happened we might be a little shocked, but this type of behaviour from NAMA is the norm.

The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner has similar problems with NAMA. It found in February that it was in breach of its statutory functions under data protection law yet the chairman and chief executive officer, CEO, remain untouchable. Section 14 of the National Asset Management Agency Act 2009 sets out that NAMA is answerable to the Minister for Finance but one would think it was the other way around.

In February, I asked the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, if he would instruct NAMA to stop its policy of deleting emails. I got a nice letter back from the Minister telling me how wonderful NAMA was and why he would not do it. I put in a freedom of information, FOI, request relating to my question to the Minister. To my amazement I discovered that rather than answer my question, the Minister asked NAMA to answer it. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, sent NAMA the proposed response from the Department of Finance and got its edited version back, which was provided to me as his answer. The Minister signed the NAMA version that arrived to my office. How bad is that? Is the Minister for Finance not supposed to be holding NAMA to account? Who is running this country?

At this stage, we cannot trust NAMA to supply the Cooke commission with all the evidence surrounding Project Eagle because of its incriminating nature. Does the Taoiseach not believe it is time that he relieved the NAMA chairman and CEO of their duties and put in a public interest director instead? Given the thrust of Mr. Justice Cooke's second interim report, they certainly appear to be obstructing the work of a commission of investigation. Is the Taoiseach content to kick the NAMA issue down the road, postponing any day of reckoning for it? Does he have any appetite for the truth around the workings of NAMA?

I absolutely have an appetite for the truth. That is why the commission of inquiry was established. I look forward to it completing its work and making its findings, and I will not jump to conclusions. A commission of investigation has been established by this Oireachtas. It will carry out its inquiries and produce its findings. I ask Deputy Wallace not to jump to conclusions either. The purpose of setting up an investigation or inquiry is so that that inquiry or investigation can consider all of the facts, interview people and then come to its conclusions at the end of doing that.

The interim report of the Cooke commission, which I read only a week or two ago, does not make any findings against NAMA. It is largely a progress report on the work he is doing. He has requested an extension and that extension is being agreed. While there are certainly concerns in the report relating to the speed at which information and documents have been provided to the commission, he does not say that his work is being obstructed. That certainly was not in the document I read.

It might be worth noting for the House that Cabinet today approved the annual accounts and quarterly report of NAMA. They indicate that NAMA has done the job it was asked to do. It was asked to recover money for the taxpayer as a consequence of the property collapse and, as the Deputy knows, the property collapse cost the taxpayer a lot of money and not just people involved in that business. The report from NAMA confirms that it has now redeemed 100% of the senior bonds issued, which is in excess of €30 billion in senior bonds.

It now expects that the surplus when NAMA is wound down over the next couple of years, and it will be wound down, will exceed its initial projections. It will be closer to €3 billion, and that will be remitted to the taxpayer.

When the assets were moved to NAMA for more than €30 billion it was not expected that the agency would just get its €30 billion back. The assets were valued at over €74 billion before they went to NAMA. That was their book value in the banks. It was expected that they would reach somewhere in between, at least, which would put the figure around €60 billion. The notion that NAMA is making a profit is rubbish. I suggest that the Taoiseach read the interim report more carefully because the judge is saying that NAMA is not giving him what he needs.

On the issue of deleting emails, the Comptroller and Auditor General conducted an audit of this NAMA policy. It was never published but I got it under freedom of information. The Comptroller and Auditor General stated: "The deletion of emails, in particular board members' emails, is contrary to and may compromise the principles of good governance". He also stated: "There is a further risk to NAMA's reputation when it becomes known that emails are being deleted, which may also have consequences for information sought under of freedom of information legislation." In response to the recommendations from the Comptroller and Auditor General, NAMA paid PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC, to do a report. PwC has been paid €10 million by the agency and, what a surprise, the PwC report is full of derogatory rubbish about how the Comptroller and Auditor General has provided no evidence to support his findings.

I thank the Deputy.

Can the Taoiseach stand over that? How does NAMA get away with treating the constitutional officer responsible for public audit in the State so badly?

I thank the Deputy.

Does the Taoiseach not think the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, should answer the questions and not get NAMA to answer questions about it? Does the Taoiseach think it is okay for the Minister for Finance to send NAMA the questions, so it can answer the questions? One could not make it up. What is going on in this place?

I thank the Deputy.

A Minister's Department may have a huge number of agencies under its remit. It is only reasonable when preparing an answer to a question about an agency under one's remit that one might check with the agency and allow it to contribute to the reply. That is something every Minister does every day. Ministers have done that since the foundation of the State.

Not true.

If one is asked a question about a hospital or a school, there is a good chance one will check with the hospital or the school for the answer to the question.

With regard to the NAMA surplus, I recall the debates about establishing NAMA very well. Many Members said that NAMA would end up with a large deficit. It was suggested there would be a deficit of up to €10 billion. I cannot remember what the Deputy's projection was-----

It has ended up with a deficit.

I may be wrong on that point but most people argued at the time that NAMA would not break even and that there would be a deficit.

Deputy Enda Kenny was one.

It has lost about €20 billion and the Taoiseach knows it.

I have to be honest that I was one of the people at the time who thought there would be a NAMA deficit.

The Taoiseach was.

However, there will not be a NAMA deficit.

It is €20 billion.

There will be a surplus of between €2 billion and €3 billion which will be remitted in full to the taxpayer. In terms of getting taxpayers' money back-----

It never paid.

-----NAMA has done its job.

Please, Deputies.

On the other questions, the House establishes commissions of inquiry and we have established a number of them at this stage. They require a great deal of work by judges, lawyers and others and they are expensive for the taxpayer. We have set up a tribunal of inquiry as well, along with other inquiries. It is high time we allowed those inquiries to do their work-----

If we got the information, we would not need inquiries.

-----and not second-guess their work while they are doing it or have parallel inquiries in this House.

I thank the Taoiseach.

We have seen some of the results from the disclosures tribunal in Dublin Castle. We know-----

Has the Taoiseach seen the results?

-----Deputies raised and made allegations in the Dáil and we now know from what has emerged in Dublin Castle that those allegations were false. I have yet to hear those Deputies withdraw the allegations. They should do so.

The Taoiseach's time is up.

I will return to that, incidentally.