Cyprian Brady (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

In post offices, credit unions, building societies and banks throughout the country, young people put in their few bob every week or month to have access to funds when they need it. The vast majority continue that practice into their adult years and on into their senior years. I refer to parents supporting their children by helping them with obtaining a mortgage. As a result of what has happened, any confidence people had in financial institutions has been damaged, whether those are institutions at home or abroad. As the incumbent Government, our job is to restore that confidence. That is the reason NAMA is being proposed. It is not for builders, developers and bankers; it is for the ordinary people of this country. There are hundreds and thousands of accounts, mortgages, standing orders etc. in banks and building societies around the country where every day ordinary people do their business. This is what NAMA is protecting. We are protecting the small, medium and large businesses, shops, factories and offices who depend every week on banks and building societies to do their business, to provide jobs and to provide incomes for people.

The Minister for Finance explained the legislation to the House in great detail. Given the figures announced by the Minister, the key to NAMA is that if property prices increase by just 10% over the next ten years, NAMA will break even. We will be able to go back to the country in the knowledge that we have produced a system and a programme which has ensured that the taxpayers of this country have not lost any of their resources. The Minister pointed out that we are now at the bottom of a cycle. The property market in every country in the world has a cycle of troughs and peaks and this must be accepted. In my view, we will make a profit from NAMA. There has already been a sharp increase in the banks' share prices since they were recapitalised last year. Those shares will yield a significant profit for the taxpayer when they are sold.

I have been out canvassing for the Lisbon treaty referendum over the past couple of weeks. It is understandable that people are angry and disappointed. They believe they have been let down by institutions such as banks and building societies. There has been a breakdown in trust. Those who have done wrong need to be brought to account but we also need the banks and a financial system in order for the country to function properly.

I commend the bold move in introducing the State guarantee for deposits. This measure was opposed by some Members of the House. This move was made decisively and quickly and it brought us back from the brink of a very serious situation. Other European countries and other countries around the world have followed suit with their own state guarantees. The NAMA plan, which has been endorsed by the ECB will, despite what the commentators say, bring liquidity back into the system and will ensure that those people who-----

See this speech in context