Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)

I assure Deputy Burton that the only flowerpots in the boardroom will be in the centre of the table or in the windows and will not be around the table. The membership of the committee will be a matter for the board but will be confined to officers of NAMA and board members and, as has been said, at least two board members must be on the finance committee. I have been an unpaid member of enough voluntary organisations to know what are the functions of finance committees. I understand Deputy Burton's argument but it is misplaced in this instance and a very similar argument she made could be made about the risk management committee. One could argue risk management is a matter for the whole board and therefore a risk management committee is not needed.

An amendment tabled during the Seanad debate by Senator O'Toole proposed that detailed financial reports should be first examined by a sub-committee before they come to the board. The Senator argued that his experience had shown that unless a sub-committee examined the material before the board does the executives may be left with too much power. Many organisations have a first reading or look at financial statements at committee level and one can often iron out things so they do not detain the time of the full board.

However, given the huge national responsibilities of NAMA the board will have to have a hands-on approach to every aspect of its activities. The committees are there simply to help them. In organisations of an entirely different type, Deputy Burton may be correct in stating that finance committees sometimes assume a power and effectively take over the financial running of such organisations. In this instance the responsibilities and duties of the board are simply too great to permit that to happen. The addition of the finance committee, for which an argument was made and accepted, adds to rather than subtracts from it.

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