Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Will the Minister confirm that at this point in time NAMA is, as I understand it, talking about taking over the bad loans of some 20 to 50 big developers whose loans amount to between €20 billion and €45 billion? Will he confirm that the way this will work is that each loan will be valued separately and independently? The Minister did not address the question I asked. I asked whether he will use a mark to market method for the valuation? In other words, will he take the current market value and use that as the basis of valuation or will he take book values and take a markdown on the book values?

There is a significant variation between those two methods. The director general of the Swedish National Debt Office, Mr. Bo Lundgren, recommended yesterday that there should be a high relationship with market value or otherwise Irish taxpayers would end up bearing an enormous burden. Will the Minister confirm what method of valuation will be used? Will it be based primarily on market values or on the kind of manufactured valuation to which the Minister alluded, based on some long-term potential economic value?

Is it true that loans under €5 million held by developers will not be referred to NAMA but will be worked out separately by the banks?

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