Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is another man who has come into the Chamber and has been consistent since. The question is will he support this particular proposal when they vote tomorrow evening. That will be a difficult one for him and I understand the difficulties he will face but we will watch that particular chair and vote. There is a difficulty with NAMA because there is a lack of transparency and accountability. At the time, we removed it from any political interference and one of the reasons we did so was because Deputy Gilmore at the time accused it of being a social welfare scheme for developers that would bail them out and a scam by the then Government to bail out their colleagues. If that is the case, surely one would think that the Tánaiste would have made some effort to change the legislation underpinning the establishment of NAMA but he has not. He actually praised it from that chair opposite and said that it is doing a wonderful job. When on the Opposition benches, he described the people working in NAMA as "a bunch of tossers". That is what the now Tánaiste when in opposition called the people running NAMA - a bunch of tossers. The question I must ask myself is whether these tossers have changed or not because the legislation has not changed. If it was an organisation that was set up to bail out developers and a social welfare fund for builders, it is time we changed it. I would support changes to NAMA to make it more accountable, democratic and transparent. What has this Government done? It has lashed more assets into NAMA and increased the assets it will hold - this organisation that is run by a bunch of tossers.

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