Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The Government published a briefing document on the night of the budget. It stated: "This is a priority for Government." We still do not have the legislation and no idea as to when it will be published. The briefing document stated: "It is proposed to establish the NAMA on a statutory basis". Since then, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance have said that they intend to establish NAMA on a non-statutory basis initially. The Labour Party has pointed out that this cannot be done, in that NAMA would not be able to do anything about anything because it would not have statutory authority to discount loans, carry out evaluations and so on as it is supposed to.

Six weeks ago, the Minister for Finance stated that NAMA would be established under the auspices of the NTMA. Last Thursday, the NTMA's chief executive appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts, but he did not appear to know a great deal about NAMA and did not seem enthusiastic about the idea. He told the committee that the NTMA had neither the staff nor resources to establish NAMA and that it would eventually become bogged down in the courts, resulting in what he described as a bonanza for lawyers. He stated: "The implications are enormous." What is the Government doing about this issue?

I have a number of specific questions. When will we get the details? When will legislation be published and enacted to establish NAMA? When will it be set up exactly? When will it start work exactly? Is it being delayed, as one newspaper reported at the weekend, because the Government is planning a second wave of bailouts, this time for the big developers? An article in one of the newspapers at the weekend-----

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