James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

I will begin where the last speaker finished. For us to buy into what the Government has suggested would be to buy into the last 12 years, which led us into this morass.

NAMA has a number of problems. I have only asked for five minutes because it is important that I place my opposition on the record. The Government wants to pay over the odds for loans deliberately. Mr. Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel prizewinner, has characterised this as criminal.

He won the Nobel peace prize for being an economist with foresight and understanding of the global economy. Every indication here is that property prices are continuing to fall. We are buying property loans totalling €77 billion at what appears to be a discount price of €54 billion. Is this really the case? Much of this money was borrowed from somewhere else to make the deposit so the real value is very suspect. It is acknowledged that the €54 billion is €7 billion more than its real value, according to current valuations. However, what is the real value and how does one know the real value when there is no market against which it can be measured?

How is €47 billion considered to be the value? Is it a value based on the air in this House or the light coming through the window? In addition, there are indications that values will fall further. We acknowledge that we will be paying €7 billion over the odds and there is no market against which to measure the notional value. In fact, this market is falling and expert opinion predicts it will continue to fall. The Irish taxpayer is being exposed to a significant risk and with no comeback. I have a key triad of aspirations to which I try to adhere since I entered politics: transparency, accountability and fairness. Where is the transparency in this proposal?

See this speech in context