Just when you hoped that NAMA had fallen off the edge of the world, the figurate man from the EU say ‘Yes’. The European Commission has officially approved the government’s NAMA plan this morning.

NAMA will purchase assets for a nominal value (in today’s money) of €80B for around €54B. NAMA will manage these assets and attempt to maximise their value.

Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia commented on today’s approval:

Ireland’s financial sector has been one of the most affected by the global financial crisis in Europe and the burst of the Irish real estate bubble has only compounded the problems. This impaired asset measure, which is specifically targeted at real estate assets, is therefore key to cleaning up Irish banks’ balance sheets. This is an important step towards the overall restructuring of the sector and its return to a normal and responsible functioning of the market.

This in a massive week for domestic financial matters where Finance Bill 2010 is being reviewed line by line by the Finance Committee and economist Klaus Regling spoke at a meeting of the committee on his upcoming report on the financial crisis.

First up the Sunday Tribune.

Northern Editor Suzanne Breen interviews Gerry Adams’ niece, Aine Tyrell. Tyrell claims that Adams is lying when he says he couldn’t tell party colleagues that his brother was a suspected paedophile because she demanded anonymity from Adams.

Breen writes:

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Tribune, Tyrell was scathing of both the Sinn Féin president and the PSNI over their handling of the case.

She said: “I didn’t know Liam was in Sinn Féin but had Gerry bothered to tell me, I would have waived my anonymity without hesistation. I’d have accompanied Gerry to meet his colleagues in Sinn Féin, to talk to the ard chomhairle about what Liam had done so they could expel him from the party. But Gerry never gave that option.”

The piece continues with Tyrell saying that she never asked Adams to protect her anonymity and had asked him to address the fact that Liam Adams working on youth projects over and over again to no avail.

Under the fold of the Tribune frontpage,  Conor McMorrow reports on Fine Gael’s plans to reshape the electorial system. McMorrow writes:

The Sunday Tribune understands that key figures in the party are finalising an audacious plan to have a ‘Mixed Electoral System’, where 12 TDs will be elected from four regions based on the constituencies used for the European elections. They would be elected on the basis of a list system, which would be a break away from the PR-STV system which has been used in elections since the foundation of the state.

He continues:

A further 134 TDs would be elected in the traditional constituency-based elections and the new slimmed-down Dáil would have 20 less TDs than the current 16 deputies. The party hopes to implement the mammoth changes for the general election after the next one.

The Sunday Business Post leads with a story by Cliff Taylor and Ian Kehoe on the banks and Nama. Titled “State to pay banks less for transferring loans to NAMA”, their piece claims that the state’s bill to transfer loans to Nama will be “considerably lower than the expected €54 billion”.

They write:

Detailed investigation of the first loans to be transferred from the banks to the new agency shows the loans are worth less than previously estimated. The initial Nama plan had said that loads were likely to be transferred at 30 per cent below their original worth, but the indications are that the final discount will now be higher.

Under the Post lead comes a small but interesting piece by Ian Kehoe on how the government plans to tighten up the rules governing the artists’ exemption.

He writes:

The Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism is working with the Revenue Commissioners and the Arts Council on a major review of the scheme, particularly who can qualify for tax relief.

Oh yes and I got the Sindo, but it’s all gangs and Brendan O’Connor has a piece called “Stokes twins: pillars of hope”, so we’ll just grab a pic and leave it there!

Links to follow when the pieces go live on the web!

This week has been a Seanad love-in around these parts.. Let’s finish off the week on the same note. Seanad and NAMAlicious!

FG’s Jerry Buttimer bemoans the fact the FF senators bear an unrequited love for their leadership.

Ouchies, McOuchies. FG’s Paschal Donohoe on yet another Harris riposte.

Paschal was tweeting a storm (there was talk of sending him a Slanket on the liveblog), so just another. As the voting on the amendment continued late into the evening, a red dot appeared on the voting monitor somewhere on the independent’s benches. Vote after vote on the amendments, that red dot voted with the Government. Bloggers were at a loss to begin with and then came the confirmation that independent Senator backing the Government was Joe O’Toole.

Hehe, biscuit taken and scoffed!

Not to be outdone, our favourite Green Senator Dan Boyle, was tweeting in his own special fashion. A touch of penis envy?

Politics.ie’s David Cochrane was tempted and engaged.

What the hell? Does Dan Boyle really believe that the content of NAMA is almost irrelevent to the people?

Fake Greens are representing. Best new follow this week – @fakegreens_ie.

So, the real slow sets will probably break out after midnight, but we’ll be watching the progress of the Seanad debate on the NAMA Bill right up until the session is scheduled to end at 2am.

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