Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

——in particular to ensure the legislation is passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas and wins the support of the Green Party and the Independents. On the basis of the figure of €5.5 billion, the different assumptions made in terms of interest rates, recovery of property values and the development of the economy, the risks inherent in these calculations are self-evident at this point when one considers the value of one of the assets which will come within the responsibility of NAMA, namely, the Irish glass bottle site which has been reduced in value by 85%. These are the types of loans NAMA is taking on.

While the Minister has a political objective to put a gloss on this, is he falsifying the accounts in this way to avoid the strictures of EU state aid rules being applied to NAMA because of the inherent and significant subsidy to the Irish banking sector? Will the Leader address that specific question?