Seanad debates

Tuesday, 17 December 2002

National Development Finance Agency Bill, 2002: Second Stage.

 

The NDFA will not be responsible for deciding whether projects goes ahead and will have nothing to do with assessing them. When the chief executive officer and chairman of the NDFA, on foot of its annual report, come before the committee each year, they will speak about the financing. They will not answer questions on whether it was a good idea to proceed with a particular project. For example, if, as stated on Committee Stage in the Dáil, we decided to build a Taj Mahal in Celbridge – which is near my home and that of Senator Walsh – it would cost thousands of billions of euro to do so. The Government would then be obliged to make a decision on whether to proceed and the NDFA would offer advice about the optimum financial arrangements. It would not be in a position to say it was a great idea, a bad idea, a Mickey mouse idea or whatever; it would offer advice on the best financial arrangements for the project. Common sense will, hopefully, prevail and the Taj Mahal will be built nearer to my home in Clane than to the home of Senator Walsh.

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