Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 16, between lines 36 and 37, to insert the following:

"(a) to contribute to the sustainable social and economic development of the State,".

This Labour Party amendment proposes to insert the words "to contribute to the sustainable social and economic development of the State". Members who were here for the Committee Stage debate will recall that the Minister agreed to accept the spirit of a similar amendment we tabled. Our Committee Stage amendment No. 40 proposed that "NAMA shall undertake proper and sustainable planning for all properties under development" and so on. I am in a slight quandary because the Minister said he would accept the spirit of amendment No. 40 and suggested that a way of doing that was to change the wording of our amendment to "sustainable social and economic development". We have done that, as the Minister suggested. However, he forgot his own advice because I note that his amendment proposes to insert the words "to contribute to the social and economic development of the State", which is the original Labour Party wording proposed.

I do not want to delay the House, but all I need from the Minister is an indication that he accepts, as we discussed previously, that the wording to be inserted should be "sustainable social and economic development of the State" in terms of the purposes of the Bill. If the Minister agrees to that, we can all go home a little happier.

The purpose of our amendment No. 8, as we discussed on Committee Stage, is to advise that the Bill should make specific references to the laws of the European Union and the guidelines and so on in regard to state aid and any other relevant guidelines. Given all the commentary we have heard about EUROSTAT, state aid and so on, this is a sensible amendment. I have not heard any good argument as to why it is not appropriate. It would probably protect the Irish position to a greater extent in the context of the references made in the previous discussion on the Bill.

On amendment No. 5, it goes without saying that while the purpose of the Bill is obviously to rescue the banks, the bankers and the developers, the primary purpose of spending €53 billion should be the sustainable social and economic development of the State. This will play out over a very long period. It involves vast numbers of properties and land all around the country. It is important that those who are tasked with being on the board of directors of NAMA and looking after the affairs of the agency and the special purpose vehicle should have sustainable social and economic development as a clear mandate and instruction to them from the Oireachtas.

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