Irish Government to order NAMA inquiry

The Irish Government is to hold an inquiry into the sale of NAMA’s Northern Ireland property portfolio.

The move was approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday afternoon.

Around £1.2bn in assets owned by NAMA were sold to a US investment firm in 2014 in what was Northern Ireland’s largest ever property deal.

However a number of allegations have since been made about it.

The Irish Government has confirmed the Public Accounts Committee would first examine a Comptroller and Auditor General report into the affair before a formal inquiry is launched.

Sinn Féin TD Gerry Adams has welcomed the announcement of the inquiry but said it was a “belated response” from the government.

He went on: “Any inquiry that is established obviously needs to have a strong north-south dimension, and I would urge the maximum level of co-operation between both governments and statutory agencies and others, north and south, to get to the bottom of the serious allegations surrounding Project Eagle.”

The NAMA sale is also being investigated by the National Crime Agency and the finance committee at Stormont.

First Minister Arlene Foster called for maximum transparency over the deal and argued that the NCA probe should take precedence north of the border.