Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry, the Chairman is right. I would like to see a recommendation from the committee, especially in view of the fact that the delegation said it had an open mind on the reserves. I propose that a recommendation be made. I would hate to see a good debate such as this get lost in translation. The Minister is in place. We want to ensure that the message goes to the right circles and that everyone is talking to everyone else. We have all seen what happens when Departments do not talk to one another.

A recommendation has been made on shared ownership. Dr. Michelle Norris stated that the shared ownership people ended up paying what they would have paid on an ordinary mortgage and they are suffering more of the brunt now than the ordinary mortgagee. I am keen to see something done in this regard.

Reference was made to a change in the interpretation of policy and to keeping mortgages off the Government books. That is how public private partnership schemes work and it is how they should work in this time of need. This is not only in the case of shared ownership; it works in other areas and it is not to be sneezed at if it works. If the Government does not have money to build and if someone else does and can put the facility on the ground then that should be a recommendation.

I was surprised to hear that we do not have companies available in Ireland for outsourcing. EC Harris is a UK-based capital funding company. Is there no Irish company available? Probably there is none, but there is much talk about keeping jobs in Ireland and so on. There is no money in Ireland to lend in this area and the lending source of the Housing Finance Agency is not Irish-based, or is it? Is it partially Irish-based? How does the agency focus its borrowing proposals?

I will not dwell on it but the purchase of NAMA buildings is an issue. We all know we have a good deal of property and we do not want to build any more. We want regeneration but not more building and this is where the Government has spoken. If the agency cannot do what it seeks to do, for example, purchase empty NAMA properties, then the policies should be changed and we should make a recommendation that that should take place.