Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I wondered what the Minister was up to and thought, perhaps, it was to dupe the Green Party membership and the majority of its Members of the Oireachtas. We would give the Minister no credit for that because the Green Party was not going to ruffle any feathers once it got through its conference. However, it is far more serious than that.

There are only vague references in the Bill to NAMA group entities. There is nothing that ties the SPVs into NAMA in a way that would be necessary for purposes of scrutiny. I am mystified by the Attorney General's advice to the Minister that it is all covered and I would not be surprised if that was tested at some stage in the near future. In fact, the President might consider referring the legislation to the Supreme Court to check these matters. It certainly seems suspicious.

I will try to avoid repeating the points that have been made. We are told not to worry and that all is safe because the NAMA directors in the SPV will have a veto. Members of this House will be aware that there are many opportunities to frustrate vetoes; one ends up cutting a deal. The taxpayers cannot afford any more deals with the people who are likely to be the directors of the SPV. Obviously, we do not yet know who they are but the Minister will understand if there are suspicions on this side of the House, at least on my part, in respect of who they might be. The Fine Gael amendment is an opportunity to correct this and to make this body accountable. I hope the Minister accepts it.

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