Last June I wrote an article entitled:
Frank Daly, CEO of NAMA, is not to be trusted.
Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly is probably of the same mind.
Arguing that the Gardai, NTMA and NAMA should all come under the Freedom of Information Act she quoted the following comment by Mr. Daly (Marian Finucane Show, Sat. 10th March).
You can have commercial viability or you can have transparency but you can’t have both.
Ms. O’Reilly likened Daly’s comment to a particular episode of Yes Minister in which Sir Humphrey says to Prime Minister Hacker, who was all for open government;
You can have openness or you can have government but you can’t have both.
The tragedy for Ireland is that while Yes Minister was great comedy and provided hilarity for the nation, Daly’s comment is sinister and is typical of the attitude that has destroyed our country.
“…..we have the hawkish NAMA chairman, Frank Daly who was appointed to the high profile chairmanship NAMA role in December 2009 and who has since boosted his profile in Irish public life as he has promoted and defended the Agency. NAMA is independent of State control and it is partly on that basis that its debt is kept off the national debt and the Agency is allowed operate under European Commission competition rules. Again so far, so good. But last Wednesday Frank was appointed to another role, the advisory board which reports to the Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan on the subject of ….. NAMA! So on one hand, Frank is the chairman of NAMA an organisation independent of government and on the other hand he is a member of a body which is accountable to the Minister for Finance! Frank has full access to information, including confidential information, in NAMA and should his views conflict with the NAMA board, then he can always go and have a whine to the NAMA advisory board which will get the ear of the Minister.”
the above is an extract from a longer post in the blog linked below
http://tinyurl.com/72764qu
I apologise if this post breaches blogging protocol.