Nicky McFadden (Fine Gael)

I thank my colleagues on both sides of the House for their honest contributions. However, I am utterly disappointed in the amendment, which is an insult to the people. How dare Fianna Fáil "welcome" anything. The word "commend" is used four times in the amendment and "welcome" is used twice. It is an outrage. I am very angry about this.

I asked about a number of issues. I asked for a home-owner support scheme to be incorporated into NAMA; that is very reasonable. I asked about the regulation of those terrorising and intimidating sub-prime debtors. I asked about lenders being helped by a bank only when they get into arrears. I asked about fixed-rate mortgage holders. Senator Boyle then spoke about the renewed programme for Government and about how it "envisages" and how it will be "reviewed". I am sick to the teeth of "envisaging", "reviewing" and "in due course". The country and people cannot wait.

As other speakers stated, the purpose of NAMA is to bail out the banks and it is correct to state it is not to bail out developers. Why can we not support the poor honest to goodness people who were taken in by the Celtic tiger and the bubble to which the Government never put a halt? Now, they find they will have to bear the brunt of losing their homes. There has been a 100% increase in High Court repossession applications between 2007 and 2008. Christmas is coming, and Senator MacSharry from Sligo spoke about a tsunami. We are speaking about "envisaging", "reviewing", "commending" and "welcoming". Shame on you.