Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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8. To ask the Minister for Finance if he has considered approaching the National Asset Management Agency to determine if it would be possible for that agency to provide start-up businesses with appropriate premises at discounted rental rates from the stock of properties held which would be suitable; if he considers such a proposal to have merit in terms of encouraging domestic growth; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42701/13]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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The question seeks to ascertain whether the Minister sees merit in approaching NAMA to do the same with small incubator units for business in the domestic economy as would be the case with, for example, housing units where they are suitable. In some locations, there would be a shortage of suitable properties. It may well be that the local authorities, which will have a business unit, could be the ones that could administer such a initiative if they had the available suitable spaces.

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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NAMA's mandate derives primarily from section 10 of the NAMA Act, which requires it to "obtain the best achievable return for the State" from its acquired loans and the properties securing those loans. As Minister for Finance, I do not intervene in the detail of NAMA's business and I would consider it inappropriate to do so.

I would point out that NAMA's remit does not extend to providing assistance to start-up businesses. The Government recognises that SMEs are the lifeblood of the economy and will play a vital role in the recovery of employment growth in the country. There are a number of other State agencies with a clearly-defined mandate in that area and I am satisfied that those agencies currently provide a comprehensive suite of incentives to encourage and support business start-ups.

NAMA continues to make a significant contribution to economic activity and job creation in Ireland, for example, through its deployment of working and development capital and vendor finance; through its work in identifying and facilitating the sale or lease of buildings to IDA Ireland clients; and through its provision of rent abatements to support struggling small and medium-sized businesses.

NAMA is working actively with IDA Ireland to identify suitable properties to meet the requirements of foreign direct investment. The recent announcement by Facebook that it is moving into a 120,000 sq. ft. office space in Grand Canal Square, giving it the potential to double its workforce in Ireland, is a direct result of NAMA's work with IDA Ireland. NAMA advanced funding to complete this building and worked closely with IDA Ireland to meet Facebook's requirements. Other recent examples include: the letting of a number of office blocks at Elm Park to the Swiss pharmaceutical firm, Novartis; the purchase by Scottish and Southern Energy of its new corporate headquarters at Leopardstown; and the investment of over €100 million by the Kerry Group at Millennium Park in Naas. In all of these examples, NAMA acted to facilitate the transactions by offering structured engagement between its debtors and receivers and the potential new investors and by providing funding to complete buildings where this was necessary.

It is important in this context to reiterate that NAMA's interest in property is that of a lender holding security for its loans rather than that of an owner. Through its email address, info@nama.ie, it helps businesses, individuals and groups to identify properties that may be suitable for their purposes. It acts as intermediary between interested parties and the debtors and receivers who control the properties by ensuring that debtors and receivers are aware of any potential purchaser or lessee interest in their properties and by facilitating engagement between the interested parties and debtors-receivers. I would encourage those interested in establishing premises for start-up businesses to engage with NAMA through this channel to identify properties that may be suitable.

I would also highlight that my officials are engaging with groups across the economy to better understand and facilitate the needs for enterprise space to support start-up businesses. We are working with city councils, business development agencies and interest groups to determine how we can be helpful in promoting business creation in Ireland, one key element of which is the creation of commercially viable enterprise space to facilitate co-working, hot-desking, incubation and acceleration of emerging businesses in Ireland such as that created by, among others, The Liffey Trust, The Digital Hub and Treehouse.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Quite a lot of the Minister's reply dealt with the higher-end area. I was specifically trying to focus on microenterprise. We all would accept that if there will be many jobs created, it will be in small to medium-sized businesses. Those smaller businesses are the ones that have the potential to employ one or two persons. Can I take if from the Minister's reply, because it will not be individuals at that level who will engage with NAMA, that there is the prospect of a direct engagement between the like of the county enterprise boards and NAMA for that purpose? It may well be that available space is in abundance in some parts of the country but it certainly is not in others, and it is at that level on which I really wanted to focus.

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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What I have given Deputy Catherine Murphy is the policy position at a level of principle. However, if there is a property, particularly in her constituency, which she thinks would be suitable for housing small businesses, NAMA will engage, either with the Deputy or with one of the agencies. NAMA is quite open to being constructive. It has a social mandate under the Act and the creating of jobs is a fulfilling of the social mandate.

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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When NAMA was set up originally, the idea was that it would hold many of these properties-----

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputy Wallace should only put a question because we are out of time.

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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-----that were on the water for a period of time rather than flooding the market with fire-sale properties. Would that still be the plan or does NAMA intend selling them sooner rather than later?

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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NAMA makes commercial decisions. Its mandate specifically is to have the best return possible for the Irish taxpayer. That means selling at the cost of acquisition or, better, at a profit.

NAMA is selling a great deal of property. Its total indebtedness is €30 billion and there is a schedule of repayments. It is obliged to pay 25% of that back by Christmas and it will pay that back. It will be paying back the last instalment to bring the repayment to €7.5 billion in December.