Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I propose to share time with Senators Twomey and Mullen. I found the reply of the Minister of State to be interesting and reassuring in ways. I do not agree with the Government motion. There could have been more movement towards the Fine Gael position. I refer to the call for the Government to establish an alternative dispute resolution system to deal with cases where people are unable to repay debt. The Minister of State could have accepted this. Members on the Government side of the House, including the Senator closest to the Minister of State at the moment, Senator MacSharry, have been seeking this and have raised it a number of times in this House. The proposal has extraordinary merit. As the Minister of State says, it is true that people will not be committed to prison without wilful neglect but that does not deal with the question of repossession. I am reassured by some of the figures of the Minister of State on repossession. I hope the media takes note of this. Last night, the presenter of a radio programme said he had never seen any repossessions in his time in court.

I cannot agree with the Government amendment because the phrase "notes NAMA is not a bailout for developers" is true but the phrase "extending it to homeowners would not provide them with relief" is untrue. NAMA could be extended beyond developers with their homeowners support scheme. In the same way as NAMA will conclude at some stage with the Government owning equity in the banks, there is no reason why the State could not have shared equity in homes, as many local authorities do. This proposition is dismissed and that is unfair to the Fine Gael position. Fine Gael went to a lot of trouble to define a motion that is not harsh or condemnatory of Government. It contains suggestions that could be examined.

I figure that in the past three years, some 200,000 houses have been sold at an average price of €300,000. This amounts to some €60 billion. The total amount people paid for houses is very close to the figure for NAMA. I am a supporter of NAMA unlike many Members on this side of the House. There is no one suggesting anyone should go anywhere near this but the merit of the Fine Gael position is that it would give a personal balance to it and show the Government is providing support for ordinary people by recognising their problems. There could have been a moment of hands across the House if we did so.