Michael Mulcahy (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)

We had a very good discussion on that. I will not go into the issue of full economic value. However, we must accept that there would be no point in having NAMA if all it would do was pay market value. It makes sense, in the context of our ownership of Anglo Irish Bank and our warrants in other banks, to get money into the banks. Were it otherwise, we would be borrowing money not at 1.5%, but at 4.5% or 5.5%, which would be much more expensive. I appeal to Opposition Members on this. We voted on Second Stage to have NAMA. Let us now get together in a positive and constructive way to see how we can work together to improve and polish the Bill as best we can.

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