Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I agree with my colleague, Deputy Higgins, with regard to paragraph (x), which seeks to install this purpose as the exclusive purpose of NAMA. It is an important purpose but it is not the exclusive one and there others, some of which we have just been discussing. I do not want to go back over the matter.

It causes to arise in my mind the assurance frequently given by the Minister to the House that we are, of course, going to go after the borrowers, we will take them for every penny they owe, we are going to ensure that these moneys are retrieved and so on and so forth. The fact of life is that the Minister, NAMA and the SPV can go after some of the borrowers all they like but they are not going to get very much back in some cases. That is what leads to the different mathematics done by people like Peter Matthews I referred to yesterday in terms of the non-performing loans and what proportion it is reasonable to say can be retrieved in the economic circumstances in which we find ourselves.

The other purpose of this amendment is to give us an opportunity to briefly debate the central purpose of the Bill which, unfortunately, in the time circumstances in which we find ourselves, is unlikely to be reached. It must be underlined again that the entire purpose of this very complex and intricate legislation, and this extraordinary gamble that we are taking on behalf of the taxpayer, and the intricate architecture that is woven here by the Minister, all comes to naught unless it causes money to flow in the economy again. In that sense, the amendment gives us the opportunity to again highlight the importance of restoring confidence in the banking system.

It is not like making widgets or producing concrete blocks. Trust and confidence is at the heart of the banking and financial industry and, where that has been eroded, it is very difficult to address with confidence the other problems in the economy unless we can get that confidence back in the banking system. For the public that means, for example, whether I am more likely as a result of the legislation to have my overdraft extended, to have the normal facilities that are available to my small company or to keep my people in employment. That is critical and central. It is the core purpose of this legislation - it is why we are here. From that point of view, anything that can legislatively impose such an imperative on the management of the implementation of this Act is correct because if that does not happen, it has failed. I accept, of course, that this may mean the covered institutions come back to us for more capitalisation and all that this would mean in terms of our financial and economic situation.

The amendment provides the Minister with another opportunity to say to a sceptical public that credit lines will be unfrozen for prudential lending after this legislation goes through. I do not know. There are conflicting stories. There is no Member of this House who has not had representations from people who are owner-managers or managers of small or medium enterprises who say they are in difficulty because of the tightening credit situation.

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