Seanad debates

Tuesday, 10 November 2009

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage

 

12:00 pm

Photo of Liam TwomeyLiam Twomey (Fine Gael)

The Senator is getting support that it is definitely a national emergency. When I asked the Minister on Second Stage whether this Bill would be referred to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality, he replied that he felt there was no need for that. He did not return to the issue when he responded on Second Stage, which I did not really expect him to, as almost every Senator in the House contributed to the debate. However, if we are not going to refer this Bill to test its constitutionality, and even if we do, there is also a need for a very strong committee of this House to follow what is happening in NAMA and to review every aspect of this legislation. What we seek in amendment No. 2 is that the Oireachtas would appoint the board of NAMA, oversee it, approve its codes of practice and be very deeply involved in how it works.

There is an up-front cost of at least €54 billion to the taxpayer. As we also mentioned on Second Stage, although the Minister did not get the opportunity to respond, we will probably recapitalise the major banks of this country again next year. We have already spent in excess of €10 billion this year on recapitalising the banks and next year that figure must be at least another €10 billion, if not substantially more. We are talking about huge amounts of Irish taxpayers' money. There should be a very strong oversight for the Irish taxpayer through the Houses of the Oireachtas and we should not leave all the power in the Minister's hands, which seems to be the case at this time.

Amendment No. 37 seeks to help the Minister in appointing a first board but, again, the amendment looks for strong Oireachtas oversight. Amendment No. 31 seeks a more cohesive business plan in the first instance, before the Minister enacts this legislation and gets NAMA operational. The draft business plan as it stands has a certain amount of detail but could give more clarity to the people as to what they are actually buying and what we are voting for.

These are the reasons I would seek to press amendment No. 2, on which I will call a vote if necessary. The background is that constitutional issues arise in this regard. Incredible power is being given to the Minister in this legislation. There are significant costs to the taxpayer, including the €54 billion, plus the recapitalisation cost of approximately €10 billion to €15 billion. When one reads through this legislation, many things are happening that require strong oversight by the Oireachtas. I would like the Oireachtas to be given the power to oversee NAMA.

When the Irish people looking in from the outside talk about NAMA, the economy and banking, they remember Mr. FitzPatrick and the golden circle of ten people who received loans of up to €300 million from Anglo Irish Bank. Even to this day, we have no idea who those individuals are, what was the basis for them getting these massive loans and whether they are going to repay the loans. That is something that sticks in the minds of the Irish people when they listen to discussion of banking, bailouts and the supports we are giving the banks at this time. This is why the Minister should support our amendment.

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