Michael McCarthy (Labour)

The House will have an opportunity to debate the budget today but I have a few questions for the Leader. I refer to the creation of the new agency, NAMA, and the ramifications for the taxpayer which will be absolutely huge. Does the Leader think it is fair that the Government has bailed out the banks and the developers? We as taxpayers will now own apartment blocks in Dubai, land in Birmingham and shopping centres in Manchester. I say good luck to people who had the entrepreneurial capacity and had the financial means to do so. However, they now find themselves against a brick wall. The Government has decided to bail them out and dump the responsibility. The economic burden for that bail out now rests with the thousands of young people who have lost the mortgage interest relief scheme, who are now paying double the income levy, who are paying two pension levies where both earners in the household are public sector workers, demonised by this Government.