Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Tar éis an díospóireacht a bhí ag an Rialtas inné, tá cead tugtha ag an Aire glacadh leis an mBille nua maidir le hÚdarás na Gaeltachta agus beidh sé tugtha isteach sa Teach sar i bhfad. Tá an obair sin ar siúl faoi láthair. Ba cheart go mbéadh an Bille achtaithe sula mbéadh na toghcháin le bheith ann.

The Bill relating to freedom of information will be introduced later this year. A number of areas require discussion and analysis before the Minister can move on it.

The firms which tender to give legal advice to NAMA are selected from panels established following a competitive tendering process. Individual assignments are normally awarded after the receipt of further tenders designed to ensure the most competitive pricing for the assignments. The legal costs incurred in 2010 and 2011 were related to legal due diligence on loans NAMA had acquired from the participating institutions. Arising from reviews, questions were raised about the enforceability of security in certain cases. As a result, legal discounts amounting to €368 million were imposed which reduced accordingly the acquisition cost of the loans. This relates to the first five tranches only. The saving to the State in carrying out this due diligence was a large multiple of the legal costs incurred. The legal due diligence costs are fully recoverable from the financial institutions.

The Minister for Finance has already signalled publicly that he is looking at the structure of NAMA, on which some initial work has been carried out. He hopes to have others appointed to a group which can look at what might be possible in terms of changing the structure. It is difficult to find competent people from this country who can do this work. This is a small country and persons with competence in this field may have a direct or indirect connection with a property owner or a property associated with the NAMA portfolio. The Deputy will, therefore, understand the Minister's reticence in not being too hasty. He is anxious to find people who are really competent and who do not have a connection with anyone or anything associated with NAMA.

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