Michael Kennedy (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)

The Government's proposal is reasonable. I would be cautiously optimistic that NAMA will make a profit over the ten years. I do not have any special knowledge, but the knowledge I have equals that of anyone in the House because no one here has expertise in banking.

I spent 30 years in the insurance business and every six months, insurance investment managers come into my office to show me graphs over a five year period where the stock market will go up, taper off, then go up again. The same is true for property funds. Those facts exist. The same people tell me now that they are optimistic that property values will rise again. I am not suggesting they might not go down in the next month or six months, but I would be optimistic that over a ten year period values will increase.

It amazes me that at the 11th hour we are still debating the bad bank, the good bank, the fantasy bank and bank nationalisation. While Deputy Bruton was out, his colleague Deputy Jim O'Keeffe came up with a new proposal whereby the banks would recapitalise at a new 50 cent share. I do not know if this is Fine Gael policy. Is he suggesting those investors in the banks that have lost substantially, the pension funds, building societies, credit unions and trustee funds, in addition to taking the 90% hit they have been stuck with, now take another 300% hit? That is what he is saying going by today's share values. He is kicking those people when they are down, the ordinary people, those who invest their money in credit unions or insurance investment products. Is that Fine Gael policy now?

It is bad enough listening to the good bank, bad bank idea, where we throw in €2 billion and reinflate business overnight. Suddenly €70 billion worth of property loans miraculously disappear off the balance sheets and do not need any capitalisation.

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