Fianna Fail senator Mark Daly says that he will continue his campaign to force Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency (Nama) to publish lists of properties for sale and to reveal completed sale prices, despite losing a key debate in parliament yesterday.
Daly’s Nama and the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Transparency Bill 2011 was debated in the Seanad (upper house of parliament) on Wednesday evening, but lost by 17 to 24 votes, EG has learned.
The bill, introduced in December last year, calls for Nama and the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation to set up a website which displays information on assets for sale, including addresses of property and names of sellers of loans and other assets, plus prices achieved. However, the bill is problematic because it conflicts with confidentiality requirements in the Nama Act.
Daly told EG: “We will be taking this bill back to the Seanad. There are still too many questions as to how Nama is selling off assets. The Irish taxpayer has already been robbed blind as a result of Nama selling off assets below market value. This is one of the world’s largest real estate organisations and there should be no backroom deals.”
Daly, who is a professional auctioneer, made headlines in January 2011 when he claimed that Nama was selling off loans at discounted prices, often to parties associated with the original borrower.
Nama is also facing pressure for greater transparency from Ireland’s Information Commissioner Emily O’Reilly, who called for Nama to be brought under the country’s Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation in a speech in late May.
Speaking at the launch of the Office of the Information Commissioner Annual Report 2011, O’Reilly said: “If we are all in this economic mess together, the least the citizen can expect is that we are kept well and fully briefed on everything that affects our lives I don’t think it should be paranoia or a need to preserve secrecy that keeps particular bodies out of the Freedom of Information remit”.
Sophia.furber@estatesgazette.com
