Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I look forward to that.

The issue here is so big that it warrants oversight by the Oireachtas, and the Minister has accepted that in principle. However, consider the scale of the sum of €54 billion.

The €54 billion that NAMA will pay out represents almost twice our annual revenue income and must be viewed in the context of all the fuss that is being made about the budget and the number of people who are tearing their hair out trying to identify €4 billion in savings. We are dealing with an issue which the Minister states will give rise to a cost of €7 billion, whereas outside experts indicate that it will cost approximately €12 billion. Last night, Mr. Peter Matthews pointed out that if one presumes that the 40% of performing loans can be recovered, in their entirety, to the tune of €30.8 billion and if one applies a factor of 25% recovery in respect of the 60%, or €46.2 billion, in non-performing loans, this gives rise to an additional €11.5 billion. If one adds the latter amount to €30.8 billion, one arrives at a figure of €42.3 billion. If this is then subtracted from €54 billion, one is left with €11.7 billion. According to Mr. Matthews, this would represent a good return. That is the scale of what we are discussing and that is why this matter warrants ongoing supervision on the part of the Oireachtas.

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