'No Excuse' For Stalling In Setting Up NAMA Commission Of Investigation - Carthy

There can be no excuse of stalling on establishing a commission of investigation into NAMA, Sinn Fein MEP Matt Carthy has said.

Speaking in the European Parliament plenary in Strasbourg, Carthy said: "The Fianna Fáil government's response to the financial and banking crisis in Ireland included well known pillars such as the burdening of private debt on ordinary families and the imposition of a savage austerity agenda.

"It also included another pillar, the establishment of NAMA, set up as a 'bad bank' although even those of us who opposed its creation failed to imagine just how bad it would become.

"It is now clear that NAMA's sale in 2014 of its Project Eagle property portfolio in the north of Ireland was based on bribery and insider trading.

"The methods included bags of cash changing hands between NAMA borrowers and government advisers, millions held in an offshore account, and a Minister turning a blind eye.

"The result was that state assets were sold to a US vulture fund at a drastic loss to taxpayers - at a shocking discount of 72%, billions below its value."

Mr Carthy continued: "Two weeks after the Apple ruling, we're due to see the publication of the comptrollers' report on Wednesday on another dodgy deal that deprived Irish taxpayers of hundreds of millions of euro.

"All NAMA transactions must be suspended immediately. It is clear that the Irish government cannot delay a commission of investigation much longer.

"Irish taxpayers shouldn't have to wait for another state aid investigation to get the truth about how they've been fleeced."

(MH/LM)