Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree in terms of the social dividend, but it was a late night clause included in the NAMA legislation. It was a sop to the Opposition to be able to say NAMA would be used for the social good. The Houses of the Oireachtas set up NAMA and will dismantle it when it believes its time is up. We can actually change the priorities of NAMA if we want to do so, given the fact that everybody has come to the conclusion that we have a housing crisis, including a social housing crisis. Could we amend the legislation to allow NAMA to be used to deal with this issue? We are dealing with budgetary issues, but NAMA is an off-balance sheet vehicle. If it spends money on social housing, it is not accounted for in our deficit ratios.