Ireland's National Asset Management Agency was created in 2009 to contain the fallout from the property and banking collapse. Its job was to get the maximum return for the Irish people from the sale of assets, and pay down the state's massive debts. Riven with secrecy and scandal, however, NAMA has consistently fought off accusations of corruption. Here for the first time, investigative journalist Frank Connolly details how mismanagement handed valuable assets belonging to the Irish people to a coterie of international venture capitalists, and created a trade in state secrets. Based on exclusive interviews with a wide range of relevant parties, here is the story of how the sale of public assets disinherited the Irish people and created a new elite. "Frank Connolly's careful and penetrating investigative research has exposed critical truths about malfeasance in high places and the often ugly workings of political power generally, actions that have caused great harm to the general population."-Noam Chomsky.