Catherine Murphy
Question:162. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Taoiseach the status of the NAMA Commission of Investigation; and the plans that are in place to produce a final report. [24826/22]
View answerTuesday, 17 May 2022
Questions (162)
Written answers
The NAMA Commission was established in June 2017 following consultations with Oireachtas parties to investigate the sale by NAMA of its Northern Ireland portfolio, known as Project Eagle.
The Commission is fully independent and other than what is published in its Interim Reports I have no information as to how its investigation is progressing.
Its original deadline for reporting was 30 June 2018 but following several requests from the Commission and consultation with Oireachtas parties, its timeframe for reporting has been extended a number of times. Most recently, in March 2022, I granted a further request for an extension, this time until the end of June 2022.
The Sole member of the Commission was Judge John D. Cooke, a retired judge of the High Court who, sadly, passed away last month.
It is understood from the Commission’s most recent Interim Report that its investigation is well advanced. It was due to circulate its draft report (or parts of it) to relevant parties as required by section 34 of the Act to allow a period for submissions to the Commission or applications to Court before the report is finalised. Due to the death of Judge Cooke, I am currently considering, in consultation with the Attorney General, the issue of appointing a new Sole Member of the Commission to replace Judge Cooke.
When appointed, the new member of the Commission will obviously need some time to become familiar with its work and decide how to best to proceed. It appears likely that the Commission will need a further extension of its timeframe for reporting to conclude its work but this will be a matter for the new Sole Member to consider in the first instance. An application for such an extension, if deemed necessary by the new Sole Member, would have to be made before the end of June 2022.