Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Later today, the Government will put through the House the Second Stage of the National Asset Management Agency Bill. This will be the most expensive piece of legislation ever to pass through Dáil Éireann whereby the State will be expected to put up €54 billion to take bad loans off the banks. Even in a best case scenario it will mean the taxpayer is putting up a premium of about €7 billion for these bad loans. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of householders are facing the prospect of having their homes repossessed by the same banks who will benefit from this arrangement. In a report last week, the ESRI estimated that by the end of next year 35,000 households will not be able to repay their mortgages. It is well known that the banks are just waiting for the NAMA legislation to go through before they open up in a very serious way to seek repossession-----

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