Mr. Brian O'Gorman:

I would like to say a word in defence of NAMA. We have a reasonably good relationship with NAMA. Its first obligation is to the taxpayer and to get good value. The social dividend is there but it is a second objective. We have found NAMA very good to work with, certainly in terms of unfinished estates where we have acquired the assets and NAMA has been able to provide the funding to enable them to be completed. It only completes them once we are hooked and it knows there is an end purchaser, but it certainly has provided that facility.

Over the years, two associations which got into difficulty have merged with Clúid. I would not like to repeat the experience. I really do not think the future is about consolidation; it is about developing a small number of associations. Consolidation, where it has occurred in other jurisdictions, has been driven by the state. As we heard from the Department, it does not have an agenda of driving consolidation, so it will not happen. Mergers and acquisitions in the private sector are fraught with danger and it is a minefield in fiercely autonomous not-for-profit organisations.