Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. Will the Taoiseach tell the House when the Government proposes to commence Committee Stage of the NAMA legislation? Second, I ask the Taoiseach and his Government to give serious consideration to having this most important legislation dealt with in this Chamber. The committee rooms are small and there are many Members of all parties who wish to contribute on Committee Stage. It is almost impossible to do that in the basement rooms available.

The Taoiseach spoke yesterday about Committee Stage of this Bill being structured like a Finance Bill, in which an hour or two will be devoted to ten or 15 sections. That means that if the Bill runs, as it will do by the time the Minister's amendments come in, probably to more than 100 sections, each section of five or six will have a mini-guillotine. What does this mean in respect of the Government's commitment that every aspect of this Bill will be debated?

When will Members see the amendments of the Minister for Finance? I am told these may run into hundreds of pages and it is extremely difficult for the Opposition to operate in an environment where we have no prior notification from the Minister for Finance on legislation that will cost all of us €54 billion and rising.

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