Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The issue of the treatment of one-off proceeds is crucial, particularly with the decision to wind down NAMA. As the Government in recent years has scrambled for off-balance vehicles, NAMA can create some of the solutions. A social clause was built into the NAMA legislation but never really utilised. The idea that any NAMA surplus would be used to pay down debt at a time of severe crisis, particularly in housing, is just not acceptable. There are other imaginative ways. Instead of looking at a cash surplus, we should be looking at a housing stock surplus. There should be a bit of imagination within the Department of Finance to look at using the expected surplus from NAMA and ensure it delivers a social benefit to the people. I ask the Minister to come with proposed solutions to ensure that the expected surplus can be used in that form.

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