Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)

There is science in forecasting but there is also an opinion. We would value it if we got the Minister's opinion and his call on the forecasting because there will be facts and figures and there will be his version of what he thinks they are. We need it in order to be able to work on the figures so I ask if the Minister could provide it in the near future.

I have a couple of questions for the Minister. The threshold for loans being moved to NAMA started at €5 million and has now increased to €20 million. I ask the Minister to elaborate on the reason for this increase. On the issue of restoring trust in the banks, Deputies were being told by constituents that banks were increasing customers' loans in order to bring them over the threshold of €5 million and so put them into NAMA. Has the Minister any evidence of this practice and if so, is it of concern to him? Could this still happen with regard to the threshold of €20 million? I ask for the Minister's comments on how to ensure this cannot happen. We have to be able to trust banks again.

Anglo Irish Bank will be split into an asset recovery bank and another bank. Is this option being considered by the other banks? Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Bank will also have loans of €20 million which I thought they would be handing over. Can they handle those loans or will they need to consider some form of asset recovery within their own structures? I am assuming they are not considering this option but I ask if it is being considered.

The head of the credit review board spoke at committee about the loan guarantee scheme and the national recovery bank. We are pursuing the loan guarantee scheme because it should have been done two years ago but it is still being considered. He differed with the Opposition on that point but that is fair enough. I ask for the Minister's opinion on whether there should be a loan guarantee because it is essential to move this along. The Minister gave us a promise that NAMA would deliver credit to business and this has not happened. This is a failure that will probably hang around the Minister's neck for a long time. However, the loan guarantee scheme might be of assistance.

The head of the credit review board agreed with me in committee when I asked him about the need for a State recovery bank. Fine Gael calls this a national recovery bank and we called for its establishment about two years ago. We published details of how it could be established easily. Now that the State nearly owns AIB, this could be done through AIB without having to set up a new bank. The concept of a recovery bank is to get money moving back to business. The head of the credit review board wanted it to be considered from the point of view of competition. I do not really mind what way or for what reason it is established because it will benefit business in any case but I ask for the Minister's opinion. Is there a danger of a lack of competition in the banking sector as a result?

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