Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Do I take it from the Taoiseach's reply that the NTMA is exempt from the provisions of the recruitment embargo? What is the anticipated level of staffing required by NAMA? I think, for example, of the work a local authority must do if it wants to buy back a council house. It must send out a valuer and, probably, an architect to check its condition. There is a considerable amount of administrative work involved in the process also and this involves the council's own finance department. We must multiply that when considering the work involved in sending people out to look at half-finished housing estates, office blocks, hotels and fields. There is also work to be done sending people abroad to see the properties there that must be bought up. They must be valued and an opinion on them must be got. What happens if NAMA is acquiring one of these properties and the builder-supplier appears out of the woodwork to say he is owed money by the developer and lodges a challenge to the purchase or makes some attempt to get money back? What assessment has been made as to the total number of staff required by this agency? As regards the public sector recruitment embargo, will the NTMA have a free hand in staffing to whatever level is required to do what will clearly be an extensive job?

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