Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

How will the guidelines be evaluated or monitored? Will the Minister of State provide additional details in that regard and indicate when the guidelines will be published? Banks and lending institutions ignored regulation and authority for many years and that is why we are experiencing our current difficulties. What can be done to ensure the guidelines will be effective? We were not allowed to include in the objectives and purposes of NAMA the key point that the agency's primary function should be the freeing up of credit flows. Fine Gael's amendment in that regard was rejected. It is suggested that guidelines which will have less of an impact than what was proposed by Fine Gael will assist us in dealing with these matters.

If the guidelines are not adhered to, what action can be taken? Who will be responsible for taking such action to ensure that what we all desire will come to pass? This goes to the heart of our earlier discussion regarding the role of the State in respect of banking and the level of direction that can be given. This matter also arises in the context of mortgage holders and those in negative equity. Are we shifting the balance at all in the context of intervention?

We are engaging in a major intervention to save the banks. Are we, however, placing any further obligation on them? Senator Harris referred on the Order of Business to the position in which people find themselves as a result of their debts. Are we taking action in that regard? Are we doing anything effective to address that issue by what we are doing with the guidelines? This is a key question. Will the Government consider whether there are other interim steps that could be taken? Senator Bacik suggested a credit mediator. Are there other innovations that could be brought into the legislation to deal more effectively with the issues it hopes to address, whether credit flow or mortgages? Are there other interim initiatives that could be taken that would be stronger than guidelines and might deal with the problems we seek to address?