Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Mar an uair dheireanach ag déileáil leis an reachtaíocht sa Teach seo sa 33ú Dáil, guím gach rath uirthi sa toghchán.

Ó thaobh an Bhille seo, mar a dúirt an tAire Stáit, is Bille teicniúil é seo. Is Bille a chuireann an oifig atá ansin ar bhunús dlíthiúil difriúil le hachomharc a dhéanamh ar airgead a chur ar fáil do ghnólachtaí atá ag lorg airgid le luach níos lú ná €3 mhilliún. Faoi seo, tagann an chúirt sin tríd an mBille NAMA a tháinig isteach sna Tithe seo i 2010. Mar atá a fhios againn, tá Bille eile os comhair na dTithe seo ó thaobh deireadh a chur le NAMA agus an IBRC roimh dheireadh 2025. Tá an Bille seo ag tarraingt ar sin mar nuair a chuirtear deireadh leis an Acht sin, beidh ceist ann maidir le cá háit a seasann an t-athbhreithniú creidmheasa agus cuireann seo ar bhunús dlíthiúil é.

Tabharfaidh Sinn Féin tacaíocht don Bhille seo le bogadh ar aghaidh go dtí an chéad Chéim eile, Céim an Choiste, áit a mbeimid ábalta scrúdú a dhéanamh ar na míreanna difriúla agus an dóigh a bhfuil an oifig á reáchtáil. Mar a dúirt an tAire Stáit, ní oifig mhór í seo. Is oifig a bhfuil beirt dhuine go leith ag obair inti go lánaimseartha. Níl costas millteanach ag baint leis oifig agus tá sí mar bhuntáiste do ghnólachtaí beaga ar fud an Stáit. Bhí mé ag déanamh idirbheartaíochta ar son gnólachtaí leis an oifig seo agus d'úsáid mé seirbhísí na hoifige seo san am a chuaigh thart le cuidiú le gnólachtaí nó d'iarr mé ar na gnólachtaí dul go dtí an oifig. Ceann de na fadhbanna atá ann i gcás amháin, mar shampla, d'iarr mé ar ghnólacht dul chuig an oifig seo. Rinneadh athbhreithniú agus nuair a dúradh gur cóir go dtabharfar an iasacht don chomhlacht seo, dúirt an banc go raibh sin ceart go leor ach nach raibh sé chun an t-airgead a thabhairt mar níl dualgas ar bith ar an mbanc an t-airgead a thabhairt ag deireadh an lae. Is laige mhór atá san Acht í sin ó thaobh an athbhreithniú creidmheasa mar atá sé faoi Acht NAMA. Má táimid ar ais, agus tá súil agam go mbeidh mé ar ais agus an déileáil leis an mBille seo, b'fhéidir mar Aire, beimid ábalta díriú ar an mBille seo a láidriú.

I welcome the publication of this Bill. It is coming in on Second Stage in the dying breaths of the Government, so the Bill will fall when the Dáil is dissolved tomorrow, but it can be restored to the Order Paper of the new Dáil. It is important to move ahead with it. I am conscious that there is a timing issue regarding this Bill, because it is interlinked with the ending of NAMA and the IBRC, which is in separate legislation before the Dáil. There is a suggestion that decisions had to be taken by the end of 2024 with the commission, with a full wind-up by the end of 2025, but that may be a separate matter.

There are serious concerns regarding that legislation, and we hold those concerns. The point that was made to the finance committee is that we needed to get this through before the end of the year, and that it was a requirement from the commission, even though the wind-up would take another full year. We and others have expressed serious concerns at the committee that we would wind up NAMA, and, therefore, it would be beyond the reach of the Oireachtas and public scrutiny, despite the fact that we have a massive commission of investigation that is ongoing. In the last week, the deadline for that report, which was the end of October, has now been extended by a number of months into, I believe, June 2025. It is not appropriate, given the level of money that has come through NAMA, the fire sale of lands to support Government policy at the time and the losses that have been incurred as a result. There should be proper scrutiny of that. That legislation should not see the wind-up of NAMA until the commission's report is published and fully scrutinised. All the records of NAMA need to be maintained into the future in order for us to, if need be, delve further into them.

There is no doubt, however, that when NAMA was established, it was provided with €74 million of loans. Even though it paid less for those loans, it is clear that it did not recover anywhere near the book value of those loans. If NAMA had managed them as is in the name of the organisation, the asset value underpinning those loans would have increased significantly, as they have done, and the State would be in a far better way. It is an example of the mismanagement, by Fine Gael in particular, of this arm of the State. We have not lost millions of euro this year; we have lost billions of euro. There are cases where land has been sold from NAMA to a developer and the land has been flipped. The flipping of that land a short while afterwards has resulted in an uplift to the developer of hundreds of millions of euro. I raise that because that legislation and this legislation are interlinked.

The legislation gives a legal underpinning regarding the credit review office, which was established under the NAMA legislation of 2010 and provides it with a legal foundation. It does not really change, in any way, what is in existence and, therefore, we will support this legislation going to Committee Stage, if it is restored in the Thirty-fourth Dáil. It will then give us an opportunity to look into the legislation to see where it can be strengthened. As I mentioned, it is an office I have used on behalf of my constituents. I have not used it personally, but have signposted it for constituents in the past, particularly in the early days following its establishment and SMEs were finding it a bit more difficult. I have been signposting it less often recently. I have not looked at the numbers, but I will if we are in a position to scrutinise this legislation further on Committee Stage. The one weakness in all of this, and I recall one of the cases I asked to be referred to the credit review office, is after the examination, the office's view was the loan should be offered, and the bank in question, which I will not mention, said it that is all well and fine, but it would not loan the money and gave a reason. That is the weakness in all of this. The lending policies of banks are the lending policies of banks, but there is a weakness there. That being said, in other cases, there were reviews and the banks then provided the loan. This is an arm of the State that is better looked at than looked for. It has helped businesses, including ones in my constituency, throughout the years. We will look to see how we can strengthen that in the time ahead. It is a very small office. It only has a small number of full-time staff and a minimal budget, but Sinn Féin is happy to support this legislation to go on to the next Stage, where we will examine it further.

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