Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Wallace has articulated the real point, which is one that was clearly presented to the public in an excellent RTE documentary. Not only was Ireland for sale but it was for sale tax-free as a result of policies pursued by this Government and its predecessor.

In fairness, the Minister responded to me on the section 110 issue and he outlined that it was the Fianna Fáil Government that engineered that into the NAMA agenda before NAMA was even established. However, he is still going to sit back and allow the banks to sell people's homes to vulture funds.

There is already a huge amount of damage done in this regard. It is reported that between 46,000 and 90,000 mortgages are to be sold. The idea that the Minister for Finance has no responsibility for or role in this regard is not credible. The Minister may be able to fool the people who have not studied this matter but we know the directions he has issued to NAMA. We know, for example, that he directed NAMA to hold the IBRC loan and that he has given similar directions on numerous other occasions. The Minister can have a commercial role in regard to NAMA and he can issue directions to NAMA but he refuses to do so.

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