Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I have never attempted to impugn the Taoiseach's integrity, but his understanding of the public interest is in question here. He is right in stating that such systems have been used in other places. I assume he has studied, for example, what happened in France in the mid-1990s when a similar agency was set up to acquire €28 billion of toxic assets and €18 billion in capital was lost as a consequence. If we make a similar calculation for Ireland, we could be talking about a loss of €33 billion if we continue with the NAMA project the Government appears intent on carrying out.

In the context of the public interest, I ask the Taoiseach, as head of Government, to stop and think about the interest of the Irish taxpayer before he goes too far down this road. Based on the figures, which have been assessed at €90 billion, we could well be exposing the taxpayer of the next generation to a further €70 billion in debt, and we may well find at the end of the process that there is little to recover. In recognising what the problem is, it is possible to deal with it without creating another problem in the form of NAMA. Why will the Government not consider what Deputy Bruton has been proposing on behalf of Fine Gael for quite some time? We should invest in clean banks with no toxic assets which would be considered by international markets and other financial agencies with a degree of trust. In this way we could avoid exposing the taxpayer to a potentially catastrophic and devastating economic future.

The Government is going down a very dangerous road in proceeding with the recommendation on NAMA. The figure of €90 billion that has been arrived at for all loans given by guaranteed banks to developers may well expose the taxpayer and future taxpayers to an additional national debt of €70 billion. That would be unforgivable. For the sake of the public interest - which is what we are all focused on, although the Taoiseach may have a different version of it from me - is it not possible for the Taoiseach to stop and think before he goes down this road? We should invest whatever resources the State has in clean banks that will attract further finance and allow credit to flow to businesses, which, as he has agreed, are the economic lifeblood of our country and important for our future. This is a critical decision for the Government to make, and the recommendation of Fine Gael is that the State should invest its resources in clean banks rather than allow this potential catastrophe to face the already beleaguered Irish taxpayer.

See this speech in context