Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

It is important that the Minister opens up this to people who know the current valuation of property and land in a given area because such valuations can vary from parish to parish. The valuers will have a difficult job. I have nothing against Dublin valuers but it is the local valuers who should value the land. Land that was valued some months or years ago as development land is now returning to agricultural land, and what is the price of agricultural land? There is a major difference between the price of agricultural land in County Meath and in County Cork. This issue is vital in determining the success or failure of the project. I hope NAMA is successful because if not, it will be disastrous not just for our generation but for generations to come. Ordinary people are worried. There are people who are trying to set up small businesses and are under desperate pressure; speaker after speaker has mentioned them.

I have an important query about the legislation. Will the money given to the banks when the loans are taken over - which represents substantial funding for them - be lent to borrowers? Will Bank of Ireland and AIB look after the people who are suffering? Will they look after those who are on the live register today and the 400,000-odd who have ideas for small businesses? Will something like this be written into the legislation? That is imperative if the country is to improve its position. There are people on those dole queues who do not want to be there and who have brilliant ideas. I have met them in my constituency. I see Deputy Mattie McGrath is up there ready to talk. He can vouch for what I am saying because he has spoken against NAMA. He has said locally that NAMA is not good for us and that he will vote against it. I will hold him to that. It is important that those people in our constituency who have ideas be helped out by the banking institutions. We cannot turn our backs on them. This should be written into the legislation. There are so many more issues to talk about. That is the problem with NAMA - it is so vast.

There is one more issue I would like to discuss in my final few minutes - that is, the threat of an 80% windfall tax which will apply to the sale of land. It is absolute madness.

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