I asked some key questions this afternoon to Minister Martin Manseargh on the involvement of NAMA in derivatives.

Firstly,the objectives of NAMA do not mention derivatives anywhere. They mention associated loans but this is totally different from derivatives. So, why is the Gov accepting them?Remember this is nearly €15 billion of derivative positions.

Secondly, why did the figure change from €20 to €40 billion (August) to €14.6 billion (now)? How are they been valued given that the valuation agency has just been putout to tender?

This caused a civil servant to run out of the roon. But I’m still waiting for an answer.

We are having a specific debate on the NAMA business plan this afternoon in the Seanad. I have spent the morning getting my contribution ready. Just watched Eugene Regan lacerate the Government in his most Senior Council fashion possible. There was a pretty nervous air around Leinster House yesterday. The fall in banking shares and statements by the Government about the slowness of the legislation did not make for a very positive Wednesday afternoon. As I look into the Dail chamber now it appears to me that the proposal to hold Committee stage in the full chamber was the wrong idea. The place is mostly empty.

I’m going to be tackling the Government on a part of the NAMA jigsaw that has attracted little debate. That’s the question of why the Government is taking on nearly €15 billion of derivative positions. More on this to follow.

I raised the Iarnrod Eireann report today in the Seanad and called on the Minister for Transport to provide a report on what he is doing to tackle this issue. This caused an eruption from Senator Pearse Doherty of Sinn Fein. We were described an been an anti public sector party and of hammering the public servant. Read More…

I received the huge report on I Eireann procurement practices at 11. I had a chance to read a lot of it before our committee meeting. This is a report about procurement and specifically the (near) complete lack of processes in place to govern the spending of tax payer’s money. What I Eireann attempted to do today (and I fear some of the coverage has fallen for this) is to portray this as a fraud story.

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Spent the morning reading the Baker Tilly Report into Iarnrod Eireann procurement strategy. I’ve never read anything like this. To quote a few lines ‘on going non compliance’ with procurement procedures, ‘explanations for discrepancies arising are not being independently investigated to a satisfactory extent’ and so on.

We have the Chairman of CIE, Dr John Lynch in front of the Transport Committee at 2. I’ll have plenty of questions to ask him.