Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I made the broad point to the Deputy that not all expenditure of private money was a gamble; not all investments are speculative. We have seen, to our cost, how the abuse of large sums of money caused great difficulty for the State. Nevertheless, not all investments that look to make a return are speculative.

The Deputy has acknowledged that the Bill has a threshold in place such that borrowings cannot exceed 50% of the value of the transferred company's assets. The Bill provides for a change in one of two ways. It could either be in respect of a specific amount of money or up to the 50% threshold. However, this can only happen with the consent of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and such consent can only be given in circumstances in which there is a very good business case and plan for allowing the threshold to be changed. We have a threshold embedded in the legislation, which threshold can only be changed with the Minister's consent. The Minister would, of course, also be subject to questions about that decision. I, therefore, argue that we do have a structure in place to make sure future borrowings and investments will be made in a responsible manner, with the right levels of oversight.

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