Dáil debates

Wednesday, 7 October 2009

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed)

 

6:00 pm

Photo of Bernard AllenBernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)

They could be nursed along in their insolvent state living the rock star lifestyle to which they became accustomed at first-time buyers' expense, while thousands of workers lose their jobs and our infrastructural deficits remain untouched.

It strikes me that the Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan, will do anything to avoid publicising what price an individual property is transferred at, because he knows that once transparency becomes an element of NAMA, his over valuation of loans will be made plain to the people. It is a politics of secrecy at its most dangerous in order to pull the wool over people's eyes. Now, the Minister wants to pay a phantom price for these assets and we will never know who or which individual benefited and how much from being in NAMA.

Let this be a warning. We have had the tribunals, seen the human frailties and the catastrophic banking failures and now the Minister wants us to roll the dice again without transparency. Let the people know and be reassured that this is no sweetheart deal where cronies get a handout and builders continue to live their rock star lifestyle on borrowed money. The common good must override the privacy of big developers and builders. If the market eventually begins to function again, it will not matter significantly what valuation is published today. It should not be a hard sell for the Green Party to stand firm on transparency in its traditional role of scrutinising development in this country.

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