Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

Senator Feargal Quinn referred to the national debt and how the Government bonds, which will be issued to finance NAMA, will be categorised. It is potentially an issue of false accounting and it brings the national debt back to the bad old days of Charlie Haughey in the early 1980s when the debt was more than 120% of gross national product.

That is a sad reflection on this Government given that the Taoiseach had as one of his objectives the elimination of the national debt. It was also Government policy. It shows how matters have deteriorated and how Government policy has led us to this situation.

I refer to another matter of potential false accounting, namely, the projection of a €5.5 billion profit from NAMA. I appreciate the Minister for Finance wants to put the best possible gloss on this operation——