Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister to the Seanad. Before I speak on the matter, I should say that I grew up only two miles from where Michael Collins was born and reared. Many members from one side of my family would have spoken highly of the man in time and some of them even accused the Minister's grandfather of being responsible for his demise. They were the more passionate element of that family. When they spoke about Michael Collins they usually spoke of him as commander in chief of the IRA or the Free State army. Michael Collins had organisational abilities and when we recently had a discussion on the role of Michael Collins in Irish life, we focused on his role as Minister for Finance and how he established the national loan bonds between 1919 and 1921. He did this to legitimise the provisional governments of the first and second Dáileanna by collecting funding for those governments from the people.

Although the circumstances are remarkably different today, NAMA and its special purpose vehicle, SPV, have a serious identity crisis for the people. Rather than inviting the privileged few to become the effective owners of NAMA, the Minister should consider establishing our own national loan bonds that would allow Irish citizens to purchase units in NAMA's special purpose vehicle. An Post could easily act as agent, as it did for the privatisation of Telecom Éireann, and the units could be sold for €100. Take EE

This would allow each citizen to participate in ownership of the SPV. There might even be a counterfoil attached to each of these units in order that the purchaser, or a person on behalf of the purchaser, could nominate people to sit on the board of NAMA as directors, rather than have the Minister extend an invitation to persons who consider they are qualified. Again, it would give a role to citizens to nominate the directors and strengthen the legitimising of the SPV.

We have concerns about NAMA which is greatly complex. Few of us can say how it will turn out as none of us possesses a crystal ball. My party and I have enormous concerns about it and what it will do. I ask the Minister to give me his views on giving ownership of NAMA to citizens through a scheme such as this. It might help them to understand better NAMA and its role, as it is clear it is the only option the Government is prepared to take. Perhaps in ten years time we might see whether it was a good decision and in the coming decade people might consider they have a role. I am interested in hearing the Minister's views.