Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

These amendments relate to oversight, scrutiny and credit flows. Senators are concerned and quite rightly so. I am glad the Minister stated that the buck will stop with him but several other Ministers also said that on previous occasions. I take it that he was serious in what he said.

There is a great deal of secrecy in the Bill. There will be many reports submitted to the Minister for Finance which will not be made public. These will be placed in a closet and will never be seen by anyone other than the Minister or one of his successors.

Will the Financial Regulator have any function in respect of NAMA? Having read the Bill, I cannot identify where the regulator will have a role in respect of either regulating particular matters or scrutinising the operation of the legislation. Under the Bill, NAMA will be in a position to lend some €5 billion under its working out strategy. As a result, NAMA will have the power to borrow €5 billion. It is good that there is a cap in this regard because when it came to the banks, there was no cap with regard to the amount of money they could borrow. Anglo Irish Bank got into such grave difficulties because its borrowings increased from €30 billion to €90 billion within a three-year period. The Financial Regulator failed to exercise its functions in respect of the borrowings made by the banks.

If the Financial Regulator does not have a function in respect of NAMA, who will be responsible for scrutinising the latter's activities. At some stage, NAMA may spend up to €50 billion which would equate to it building or completing 25,000 houses.