Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

At this point in time, we are 50% of the way through NAMA's remit. It was set up in 2010 and is due to go out of existence in 2020. It has paid off or is on the way to paying off 80% of its debt by next year. That was €32 billion, of which twenty-something billion euro has been paid off. At this point, NAMA has accumulated a considerable profit and is it not time to review the direction of NAMA? Is there any advantage at this point, with property prices rising, for NAMA to concentrate on the disposal of property? Members have been discussing, in this committee room, some of the large portfolios that recently have been disposed of by NAMA. Is it not time to have a review of NAMA's remit and to focus NAMA as an investment vehicle for precisely those activities, namely, the 20,000 new housing units and the SDZ in the docklands? The latter is to create 23,000 jobs and NAMA is investing money in it. Should this not now be the sole focus of NAMA, rather than its disposal of property?