Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)

This NAMA legislation is a serious attempt to try to address the liquidity problem. A number of varied proposals have been put forward. On the Labour Party nationalisation scheme, Deputy Eamon Gilmore said it is not nationalisation because it is only for a temporary period. However, as Alan Blinder, former vice-chairman of the Federal Reserve in the US suggested recently, if a government does go down the temporary nationalisation route, there is no guarantee that it will not be medium or long term. He said: "If a government takes over a bank the taxpayers tacitly acquire the assets thereby inheriting all the uncertainties over valuation." If a bank has a negative net worth when it is nationalised, it is the taxpayer who will fill the hole.

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