Cast your minds back to 29th March 2012 when Minister for Finance Michael Noonan did his three-card trick with paying the Anglo promissory note installment of €3.06bn. Remember he initially raided the NAMA piggy bank and NAMA gave a 3-month loan to Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, until June 2012 when Bank of Ireland took over the loan for a year. But Minister Noonan can’t just raid NAMA’s coffers whenever he likes, NAMA is notionally independent of government and it is on that basis that the European statistics agency, Eurostat allows us to keep NAMA’s €27bn of state-guaranteed bonds off the national debt. In order for Minister Noonan to get NAMA to do anything out of the ordinary, he has to issue a piece of paper called a “Direction”
A “Direction” is an order given by Minister Noonan or whoever the finance minister of the day is, to NAMA pursuant to Section 14 of the NAMA Act. This is the Direction given to NAMA on 29th March 2012.
NAMA published the Direction on its website on 30th March 2012 – the very next day.
So, where are the Directions – assuming plural but there might just be one – that were issued to NAMA in respect of the IBRC liquidation. We learned this week that NAMA has made a €1bn credit line available to IBRC as part of the liquidation, and NAMA has also issued bonds and has committed to take over any unsold loans. The IBRC liquidation might see the NAMA balance sheet swell by more than 50% said the NAMA chairman, Frank Daly in Dublin this week.
So where are the Directions?
Remember that Project Red, the name given to the planned liquidation of IBRC, had been planned for six months, that the IBRC Bill had been approved by the Attorney General Maire Whelan by the end of 2012. And despite the leaking of information on the afternoon of 6th February 2013, the Government merely put in place a well-thought out series of steps to smoothly liquidate IBRC. This involved NAMA right from the start, and NAMA has already undertaken significant financial transactions.
So where are the Directions?
In the Dail this week, the Sinn Fein finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty asked Minister Noonan to lay copies of the Directions before the Oireachtas and the Minister said he would by the end of the week. Friday came and went, and still nothing on either the Department of Finance or NAMA websites. NAMA was originally asked for a copy of the Directions by here on 12th February 2013, and there has still not been any constructive response. Do the Directions exist or is NAMA operating ultra vires?
So where are the Directions?
This is the full parliamentary question and response.
Deputy Pearse Doherty: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will lay before Dail Eireann copies of directions issued to the National Asset Management Agency pursuant to the NAMA Act and the liquidation of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation..
Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan: I will lay the relevant directions to NAMA before Dail Eireann this week.
