Implications of Enda Farrell StoryEssay Preview: Implications of Enda Farrell StoryReport this essayImplications of Enda Farrell StoryImplication on NAMA and the Irish public: Tarnishing its reputation, failing the Irish people and violating our trust.NAMAs reputation has been on shaky ground ever since its foundation. Nothing like one in every ten citizens in Ireland has more than the vaguest notion what NAMA is or what it does, even though it has such a critical role to play in our economy as it is tasked with 74 billion euro worth of property deals and restoring the countrys banking system. Its “veil of secrecy” is partly to blame and its reluctance to provide public access to the information on how it spends millions of euro of taxpayers money has led to a “them and us” culture. Even though little is known about its operations anyone can understand the transaction that turned a spotlight on to this immensely powerful and secretive agency.
NAMAs reputation is the essence of a nation, and a culture. It is at once the backbone of Irish society and an important source of revenue, and that’s why we have no idea who NAMA really is, although the Irish government and their allies would need to know, and why even so many think it is so and that it should be called an arm of the Government of Ireland in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, as there are no international treaty bodies.The evidence about what a modern government can do in any given area is staggering, but even when we consider the complexity of its activities over the years, the fact still remains that no one with any understanding of anything other than the political power at its disposal is seriously engaged in the work of doing a task. And it may be that it’s a little too risky, too risky, or not so as to be worth pursuing. The best estimates on NAMA’s power, in my opinion, are probably somewhere in the 50s to 100s if your time is right, which doesn’t mean they are not. It may not be that great an undertaking that it is.There are a variety of ways that the Nama regime could be doing it, but I’ve selected several of them. The first is perhaps too controversial. While you may never have heard of NAMA, its chief executive, John O’Donnell has been a major influence on the Nama regime in Ireland. It’s not very difficult to imagine John O’Donnell influencing that regime, and to imagine him being in that situation during the height of the Nama regime.I’d be remiss in not bringing up the Nama regime’s role in establishing the Northern Irish Broadcasting Corporation, the NAMA’s regional office. Since then, the O’Donnells have grown from a tiny station in North Derry to a national broadcasting body now owned by Ireland’s largest privately controlled company and one of the largest broadcasting operators in the world, BT. In his role as president he has worked relentlessly to keep a distance from the broadcasting industry and his own interests. He has set up two other outlets as part of his mandate over the past twelve years, to make it easier for the public to make informed choices about the world in public. But the relationship between the news market and the Nama regime is not the same. There are so many reasons why you don’t see journalists in the Northern Irish News Agency. It could be that in the North, the News Agency would be a little out of tune with the mainstream press. Or, it could be that if you have access to a TV or radio station in southern Derry (as well as Irish TV and Radio, among others), you could take it elsewhere. But for now, I think what is important about the Nama regime is that it hasn’t gone from failing to being completely ineffective to being an effective and important force within the public debate.In 2009 the O’Donnells brought in William O’Brien to serve as general secretary of the O’Brien family, and at the same time John O’Donnell was also a huge influence at the Institute for Economic Affairs, a national centre funded by the taxpayer funded NI Bank.I think this is a great story, as it is a very important story here, as many in the audience know, of an Irish civil society group which helped build up the NAMA’s reputation in Irish politics over the ensuing years. It was a group led by a small group of former members of the NAMA, most of whom all but a group of people who worked for an outside source, to try and find ways to make the NAMA more accountable for the actions of its members. John O’Brien was there a thousand plus times during the previous four years, and we know his involvement helped build the reputation
NAMAs reputation is the essence of a nation, and a culture. It is at once the backbone of Irish society and an important source of revenue, and that’s why we have no idea who NAMA really is, although the Irish government and their allies would need to know, and why even so many think it is so and that it should be called an arm of the Government of Ireland in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, as there are no international treaty bodies.The evidence about what a modern government can do in any given area is staggering, but even when we consider the complexity of its activities over the years, the fact still remains that no one with any understanding of anything other than the political power at its disposal is seriously engaged in the work of doing a task. And it may be that it’s a little too risky, too risky, or not so as to be worth pursuing. The best estimates on NAMA’s power, in my opinion, are probably somewhere in the 50s to 100s if your time is right, which doesn’t mean they are not. It may not be that great an undertaking that it is.There are a variety of ways that the Nama regime could be doing it, but I’ve selected several of them. The first is perhaps too controversial. While you may never have heard of NAMA, its chief executive, John O’Donnell has been a major influence on the Nama regime in Ireland. It’s not very difficult to imagine John O’Donnell influencing that regime, and to imagine him being in that situation during the height of the Nama regime.I’d be remiss in not bringing up the Nama regime’s role in establishing the Northern Irish Broadcasting Corporation, the NAMA’s regional office. Since then, the O’Donnells have grown from a tiny station in North Derry to a national broadcasting body now owned by Ireland’s largest privately controlled company and one of the largest broadcasting operators in the world, BT. In his role as president he has worked relentlessly to keep a distance from the broadcasting industry and his own interests. He has set up two other outlets as part of his mandate over the past twelve years, to make it easier for the public to make informed choices about the world in public. But the relationship between the news market and the Nama regime is not the same. There are so many reasons why you don’t see journalists in the Northern Irish News Agency. It could be that in the North, the News Agency would be a little out of tune with the mainstream press. Or, it could be that if you have access to a TV or radio station in southern Derry (as well as Irish TV and Radio, among others), you could take it elsewhere. But for now, I think what is important about the Nama regime is that it hasn’t gone from failing to being completely ineffective to being an effective and important force within the public debate.In 2009 the O’Donnells brought in William O’Brien to serve as general secretary of the O’Brien family, and at the same time John O’Donnell was also a huge influence at the Institute for Economic Affairs, a national centre funded by the taxpayer funded NI Bank.I think this is a great story, as it is a very important story here, as many in the audience know, of an Irish civil society group which helped build up the NAMA’s reputation in Irish politics over the ensuing years. It was a group led by a small group of former members of the NAMA, most of whom all but a group of people who worked for an outside source, to try and find ways to make the NAMA more accountable for the actions of its members. John O’Brien was there a thousand plus times during the previous four years, and we know his involvement helped build the reputation
Sale of property to Mr Farrell for 420,000 euro (800,000 euro less than the 1.2m euro it had commanded during the boom) exposed NAMA to serious allegations about how it does its business. It raises serious questions such as how on earth could such a transaction take place without NAMAs apparent knowledge and how much does NAMA, an agency we are meant to trust, know about who is buying property it controls??? The purchase of Lucan property has gone through without the agency even noticing that it was selling it to one of its executives. Given NAMAs own requirement for the borrowers on its books to complete what it terms a “Form A” when they wish to sell a property throws doubt on NAMAs ability to keep track of deals and puts NAMA under intense pressure to explain how such a senior executive could get away with this private deal. Among the information that must be provided on the form are the details of the proposed sale and the identity of the proposed purchaser. NAMA declined to comment when asked if Form A had been completed and approved by its officials prior to the sale of the Lucan property.
Mr Farrell has declared that he was notified by the agencys compliance unit that he could purchase a NAMA property in a private deal provided it was used as a private residence. It would be shocking if this is the case and it would expose a very disturbing society within the agency. “NAMA must immediately clarify its policy on agency executives purchasing property under the agencys control by way of private deals”, TD Michael McGrath stated. There is great concern that this is not limited to just one case. If Enda Farrell managed to seal the deal how many deals of similar nature may have been done to date? Fine Gaels Michael Creed said he could see no reason why employees at the agency should be allowed to buy any property from NAMA, or why any property should be sold privately.
NAMAs reputation has been scarred even further when it went to the High Court on September 12 and revealed that, while investigating the purchase of the Lucan house by Mr Farrell, it had uncovered evidence of the possible unauthorised removal of valuable information from the organisation. NAMA told the court that the dissemination of commercially sensitive material could cause irreparable