The Minister for Finance is being urged to attend a debate in the Seanad in relation to NAMA's strategy of selling off property assets while the property market is still in recovery.

Labour Senator Lorraine Higgins said this will result in the Irish taxpayer missing out on potentially higher revenue from property deals.

She said: "It is fair to say a 136% increase in property price is not reflective of the bounce in the property market here, and it needs further explanation.

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"With NAMA chief executive Brendan McDonagh saying the agency aims to sell €250million worth of assets every three months, it is concerning to see these kind of profits available to private investors, effectively at Irish taxpayers’ expense.

"We already know of practices in the US which were exposed in recent months, where private-equity firms like Blackstone and Carlyle, amongst others, were accused of agreeing not to compete for each other's exclusive deals and allocating transactions among themselves, in order to keep the purchase prices down."

(CD/MH)