Mr. Brendan McDonagh:

Many NAMA sites were put on the market as single sites so small builders could bid for them. We have effectively introduced into the Irish market the licensing system. Effectively, with some pretty good sites that are ready for building, we have put them on the market and said the value might be €10 million but we do not want it upfront. The builders could pay €2 million upfront and give us the other €8 million as they build houses, sell them and give us X amount from each house. We have done that.

We are engaged in a very substantial programme in supporting debtors and trying to deliver 20,000 houses by the end of 2020. It was not put into legislation in 2009 that NAMA had to be the national housing agency. We were not such an agency. Effectively, we were given a distressed portfolio. That was the focus in 2009. I was there for all the Oireachtas debates, with 400 amendments going through between September and November that year. It was all about how to sell these assets, who was going to buy them and if we were ever going to get the money back that we paid for those assets. We were charged with getting that money back.

We are also trying to get houses built. If we can get 20,000 units delivered by the end of 2020, we will have contributed to that solution. I agree it is not enough but we have a capacity issue too in terms of what we can do. We must sell. The criticism comes that land is being hoarded and it should be sold into the market to allow people to build. We have done that. Some 30,000 of the 50,000 sites are gone into the market. They are gone not to funds but to others. The full expectation was that many of those buyers would build but they have not. I do not know why that is. Perhaps they are waiting for prices to increase or maybe they could not get development finance. These are different matters and NAMA is not responsible for them. We must also raise money to get rid of the contingent liability hanging over the State. The national debt is at €200 billion according to the National Treasury Management Agency report. If we have a loss, the Government guarantee would mean it would add to the national debt. Our objective is to ensure we do not add to the State's already heavily indebted condition. We are trying to do other things as well. I understand and respect the Deputy's position but we also try to balance what we are doing with our commercial mandate.