Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It seems much more sensible that we would lease the properties from NAMA rather than lease them from private landlords on the open market. At least there is some kind of dividend to the State if we were leasing a property from an entity owned by the State.

Having regard to the announcements that were made a number of years ago, the realisation in that respect to date has been very slow. I appreciate that there are legal difficulties and so on but if there is a better way of using public moneys by putting a property into NAMA, which is not the nicest thing to have to do either but at least that would be better than paying a private landlord for leasing it, we should do that as much as we can and we should have the impetus and energy to do that.

I have a brief question on an issue the Comptroller and Auditor General mentioned in his opening remarks related to one of his recommendations regarding the plastic bag levy. It is very unusual for the Department not to agree with one of the Comptroller and Auditor General's recommendations. It seems his recommendation was straightforward and sensible, namely, that Ms Tallon's Department should collate and analyse the results of inspections of the plastic bag levy to assess the adequacy of the inspection regime and overall level of compliance. Ms Tallon has not agreed and said that the litter statistics are enough to go by. This is set out on page 364 of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report. Why has Ms Tallon not agreed with that recommendation which seems to be an easy, simple and straightforward one?