James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)

This is probably the most important debate we will ever have in this House. My sense that I am participating, however unwillingly, in the greatest gamble in the history of the State is mind-blowing. We have all heard of the great confidence trickster immortalised in song as "the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo". We are now seeing the man who broke the Irish economy attempting to hedge his bets in a similar fashion with no guarantee of success or even luck.

Gambling with other people's money is shocking in any context. Gambling with the money of 4.3 million people, many of whom exist below or just above the poverty line, is horrifying. These people would be unwilling participants in what could be the financial disaster to end all disasters if NAMA goes ahead in its present form. Unless some Government Members come to their senses it will go ahead by sheer weight of numbers and a few will be protected at the expense of many. I am disappointed that there are no Green Deputies in the Chamber this evening to listen to what people on this side of the House have to say. They will walk in blindfolded to vote with the Government on this issue and the people will walk them out of office at the next general election.

While I do not wish to use unparliamentary language, a cartoon in a recent issue of a well-known magazine depicting the Minister for Finance saying "Screw the public and save AIB" sums up the public's opinion of NAMA which leaves many people feeling disenfranchised and helpless. Three quarters of the Irish people either reject NAMA or doubt that it can solve our financial difficulties. For many there is the real fear that their lives will be financially ruined by one tax and levy after another, not to get the country back on its feet but to bolster the position of banks, property speculators and the grasping beast that devoured the wealth of the Celtic tiger. They fear that those who attacked the foundations of this State for their own gain will be bailed out once again to the detriment of hardworking taxpayers. They fear a repeat of the cronyism that was and still is rife in Fianna Fáil, and that brought the country to its knees. This was the cronyism born in the Galway tent where the power and confidence of those same developers and speculators led them to claim they had more influence on Irish politics than Ministers have. Alarm bells are ringing throughout the length and breadth of this country and trust in the Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government has declined greatly.

The frightening signs of the double whammy that is about to be unleashed on the Irish taxpayer represent not only a betrayal of trust but a confidence trick by the Government that exceeds all others. While taxpayers worry about paying for the crippling debt NAMA will impose on them, the very banks they will assist are, with Government collusion, lining up to stab them in the back by way of higher costs and interest rate hikes in the offing. This is already happening. Yesterday one heard reports that interest rates will rise again. There is no end to the Government's duplicity on this.

How many Deputies sitting on the Government benches can look their constituents in the eye and assure them that NAMA will be a fair and open solution to the financial mess their Government got them into? How many can explain why some of the best economic brains have come out against it? How many will vote for the good of their constituents and their country rather than shore up the Fianna Fáil and Green parties?

We must consider how this will bear on our population. Will the bankers and speculators plough money into repayments to make good their debt to our society? I think not. It is historical fact that Fianna Fáil Governments attempt to make good their losses on the backs of the poor of this country. This occurs, while those responsible for massive financial meltdown escape to prosper again after a short period. The poor get poorer and the balance of power remains with the wealthy, the grasping and the corrupt. I wonder just how many Fianna Fáil Deputies will benefit from NAMA because I know many of their card-carrying members up and down the country will so benefit. This is scandalous and disgraceful.

It is shocking to note that figures for 2007, the most recent statistics available for salary scales in this country, show that in that year 33% of employees earned less than €25,000, namely, just under 500,000 workers. Given the impact of Government mismanagement of our resources, we know that figure has risen dramatically in the two years since these figures were compiled. The Minister should balance that statistic with the demands now being made on lower earners whose wages are just over the poverty line. Those earning as little as €15,000 are being asked to give up what they cannot afford to bail out the banks and the dodgy developers, although "asked" is the wrong word - "forced" is more apt.

This legislation has as many holes in it as a small child's knitting. It is full of dropped stitches, and is of grubby appearance and sticky texture. Like the small child who asks us to believe that all will turn out all right in the end, the Government assures us it can be trusted on this and will produce the goods for us. That trust is noticeably absent across the country. When over three quarters of the population have no faith in NAMA, where does that leave a Government that still insists on pushing the legislation through by sheer force of numbers? That is if those numbers are there at the final hurdle. If the Green Party has any guts it will walk away.

Speaking of numbers, this legislation is not the product of the Taoiseach, the Minister for Finance and the Cabinet working in conjunction with the best economic brains in the country. It results, rather, from the extraordinary decision of the Government to rely solely on the judgment of one man. This is the man who is calculated to send shivers down the spines of every man, woman and child in my own county of Longford. When he was asked to produce a strategy report on the economic development of the county, Dr. Peter Bacon earnestly assured us that one of the major problems for County Longford was that it was under threat from serious coastal erosion.

How can the Taoiseach or the Minister for Social and Family Affairs expect this country-----

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