Stormont: Michael Noonan has questions to answer

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has questions to answer after keeping Stormont counterparts in the dark over proposed payments to a former adviser to Nama, a watchdog claimed.

The North’s Assembly finance committee said it was unclear why Mr Noonan did not intervene when issues emerged with one of the bidders for Nama’s massive Northern Ireland property portfolio.

Frank Cushnahan was appointed to advise Nama in 2010. He had been involved in trying to set up the sale of the property portfolio to US investment firm Pimco, and, according to evidence in the Dáil, stood to be paid £5m (about €6.3m). It was to be part of a three-way split of a £15m pot for getting the billion-pound Project Eagle deal over the line.