Ciarán Cannon (Fine Gael)

The concept of NAMA is born out of a deeply misguided attempt by an inept Government to kickstart our banking system. I do not subscribe to the theory that the Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan, is engaged in some sort of underhanded attempt to bail out the members of the golden circle who were complicit in bringing us to where we are today. This has never been the case and I genuinely trust the Minister's motives in this matter. However, I do not trust his judgment or that of those advising him.

John Steinbeck once wrote that "No one wants advice, only corroboration." This turns out to be an accurate assessment of the Minister's position to date. Despite his early assertions that he was willing to take advice on the concept of NAMA to achieve some kind of national consensus, it soon became apparent that it was not advice he was seeking. Rather, he was seeking our unquestioning affirmation of NAMA's supposed brilliance. We were told that it was the only game in town and that, rather than costing us money, it would make us money. No advice to the contrary, no matter from whom it emanated, was given any credence. Despite the major concerns mounting daily, our Government persisted in pushing on with an increasingly rickety proposal.

I became concerned about the Government's judgment when I heard a radio interview with the Taoiseach in mid-July. He stated that the Government needed to continue writing whatever cheques were necessary in the interests of maintaining financial stability. What he really meant was that our taxpayers, our people, would need to write that blank cheque to cover the losses of those who engaged in reckless risk taking.

Senator Twomey was correct when he stated that there has been an air of infallibility about the Government's approach. Any criticism is considered unpatriotic. When 46 of our country's finest economists questioned the wisdom of NAMA, they were dismissed. When a Nobel prize-winning economist described NAMA as criminal, he was ignored. When an expert on banking debt recovery heavily criticised NAMA's rather fanciful business plan, he was also ignored.

The real test of any financial legislation is one that assesses its morality first and its economics second and NAMA fails miserably on both assessments. Choosing to burden our people with significant losses that were accumulated by risk takers is immoral. This immorality has been further compounded by the spurious claims by the Government, most noticeably by our new economics expert, Deputy Fahey, that NAMA will cost us nothing.