Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate that. I would like now to move on to a separate area of questioning. NAMA controls virtually all the main players in the construction industry that were active in the decade prior to its establishment. Given the level of control NAMA has, in terms of activity in the construction industry, what engagement has it had with Enterprise Ireland and the IDA in terms of an inventory of the availability and location of suitable properties to facilitate the efforts being made in particular by them in attracting foreign direct investment here?

NAMA deals in the main with property of developers who were building houses. I assume some of those developers were also involved in a range of other construction activity. Mr. Daly referred in his opening address to the emergence of development opportunities, including the Dublin office market where demand for grade A, centrally-located office accommodation is expected to outstrip supply within a few years. The reality in provincial Ireland, including Galway, Limerick and Waterford, where there was substantial foreign direct investment, is that there is no accommodation available for foreign direct investment wishing to locate in those areas. The construction sector was critically involved in the provision of this advanced accommodation that could be marketed as suitable locations in this regard.

Does NAMA have sufficient working capital to release to developers to allow them get involved in this area? I suggest there is some headroom in Dublin and very limited headroom in Cork. The efforts of Enterprise Ireland will soon be hamstrung by the virtual non-availability of this type of accommodation owing to the fact NAMA has not released sufficient working capital to allow development in this type of construction activity. I acknowledge that work is ongoing on completion of unfinished estates, apartment blocks and so on. The area of advance factory construction, however, needs to be stimulated. Has NAMA sufficient working capital to allow this? Is it working with Enterprise Ireland in this regard? As I understand it, alarm bells are ringing in terms of the level of availability of this type of accommodation.