No-one will blame Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton for getting involved in the BSkyB initiative to set up an Irish call-centre which will create 800 jobs; with unemployment at 310,000, representing 14.2% of the workforce, and a total of 440,000 on the Live Register, the country desperately needs such initiatives. However Minister Bruton’s intervention with NAMA remains shrouded in secrecy with the Department not commenting on the claim here that the Minister intervened directly with the NAMA CEO Brendan McDonagh directly or the claim in the Sunday Independent where the Minister is said intervened with the NAMA decision via the IDA. Whether or not the Minister realised it, his intervention was conferring an advantage on BSkyB who otherwise might not have been able to secure their preferred premises.
Politicians lobbying NAMA are supposed to make such lobbying public in order to prevent the shenanigans – imagined and real – that have characterised the Irish political landscape in recent decades.
On Sunday last, the Sunday Independent reported that the environment minister, Phil Hogan intervened in a transaction involving a building subject to a NAMA loan. And although the thrust of that newspaper’s reporting was that the Minister’s intervention was with NAMA, in fact it seems he merely intervened with the local council.
Yesterday in the Commercial Court, there was a directions hearing in a case where NAMA is pursuing money from companies in the Moritz property group. And according to the Independent, the barrister for the Moritz group claimed “a government minister made representations to NAMA after it initiated the proceedings” Sadly the minister is not identified in the reporting, but the context of the reported comment suggests the minister’s intervention might have resulted in conferring some advantage on the Moritz group.
Politicians have a dedicated email address to contact NAMA – in fact, thanks to Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, that email address is in the public domain – oir@nama.ie – and politicians are encouraged to make contact with NAMA at that email address in pursuit of matters within a politician’s remit which seems to include drawing NAMA’s attention to hazardous property, anti-social behaviour or criminality. That’s all fine and dandy, but what about political contact that might be ambiguous and may conceivably be intended to gift some advantage to someone connected with the politician? The NAMA anti-lobbying legislation seems to have anticipated such an eventuality and forces the politician to make public their representation.
To date, I am aware of Stephen Donnelly contacting NAMA with respect to Greystones Harbour and he has dutifully published that communication on his website; so also has Simon Harris who was concerned at a NAMA site attracting anti-social behaviour and again that communication was published on the politician’s website. And in both cases, most people will commend the politicians for their intervention.
But recent reporting gives the impression that more politicians, and particularly ministers are intervening with NAMA, and are not making that contact public. And although there is no evidence of shenanigans at present, such apparent contempt for the provisions of NAMA’s anti-lobbying legislation is worrying, and if allowed to go unchecked may in future migrate from worthy issues like employment to venal issues like donations and influence. It is to be noted that it is also a criminal offence if a NAMA employee fails to notify Gardai of lobbying in breach of NAMA’s lobbying rules.
NAMA Wine Lake 
There is a very simple solution to this legitimate concern.
NAMA should be required to document all interactions with politicians or ministers re specific properties whether written or verbal and make them available on their web sit within 7 days. NAMA’s rule should be if in doubt we publish.
Every time some politico starts trying to get at NAMA they are immediately informed that the communication will be made public.
Then the public can see what is going on and the media can question any perception of corruption.
Seems like a simple, low cost easily implementable solution.
Anyone want to gives me odds on it actually happenning?
Is Minister Bruton not merely acting in his professional capacity/in the course of his employment and therefore exempt from the rules, regardless of whether he makes it public or not? (Section 211(4))