Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

Will primary legislation be required to achieve the objective the Minister of State set out? I suspect it will in regard to merging some of the agencies. How soon can we expect to see that legislation? What will be the exposure of the Exchequer to further land loans or has the Minister carried out an inventory of what he expects to transfer from local authorities to NAMA through this agency? Will an opportunity arise from this decision to generate internal capital receipts in local authorities which are starved of finance currently for essential work to achieve objectives on housing, decisions on waste water and implementation of those programmes? Does the Minister envisage that we will be able to free up some moneys in each local authority to achieve other objectives arising from this decision?

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