Labour Party president Michael D Higgins has sharply criticised the Government’s proposed ‘business plan’ for the NAMA, saying he would not accept such a “document from a first-year university student”.
In the Dáil on Monday, Tánaiste Mary Coughlan produced a document, connected to the Government’s National Assets Management Agency plan, which she referred to as a “business plan”.
Dep Higgins said it is normal for the Government to produce a draft plan before a final document is released and passed into law. Ass a result he intends to “challenge the status of this document”.
The business plan’s first lines states the Government will “not be in a position to verify the integrity of the data until it carries out its own due diligence on each of the loans”.
Dep Higgins said: “It is far from clear whether this is a reference or draft document for the information and assistance of all deputies. It is not a finished document that will go into the committee stage process of the legislation.”
He said these matters should be discussed. He also wants to see a declaration on conflicts of interest, particularly for the people who have put together the “tentative valuations in this document”.
“In its current guise,” he said, “I would not accept this document from a first-year university student.”
