Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

It is like the little boy who cried wolf - we can expect it one of these days. I ask the Minister to return to the issue of the shareholders' agreement. He said the board is not up and running so we cannot talk about what is in the shareholders' agreement. What kind of things has the Minister in mind that will mean the minority shareholder will dictate the play? I have some difficulty with that. I can understand how NAMA will be able to veto certain things it thinks are not consistent with the purpose of this legislation or certain actions the banks want to take. However, how does it deal with issues in terms of things NAMA might want to do? NAMA can stop things from happening, but can it cause things to happen? I am not sure I understand how this is permissible under the construct the Minister is going for.

Like Deputy Ardagh, I wonder about the Minister's response to the Fine Gael amendment. If the Minister were to take on board this amendment, what elements of it would put it at risk from a EUROSTAT review? I cannot see how to prescribe that the investors ought to be suitable or that the people directing the operation ought to be appropriate or the requirement to deal with how the special purpose vehicle will discharge its functions could put the amendment outside the line. Part of the problem here is that the Minister has very congenially -----

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