Seanad debates

Wednesday, 11 November 2009

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed)

 

12:00 pm

Photo of Joe O'TooleJoe O'Toole (Independent)

This is a free market economy. I do not like it, but that is the way it is. When I was looking for a mortgage for my house in 1971, the idea of going to a bank never crossed my mind. There was no such thing as bank mortgages; people went to a building society. In 1933, six men who could not get credit anywhere sat in the Teachers' Club in Dublin. They borrowed from each other and lived off the recognition of their IOUs. Eventually, they decided there was a better way to do things and they formed the Educational Building Society. That society is still the only real mutual society and financial institution of its type left in the country, although Irish Nationwide is still reluctantly in that category.

We need to be clear about this section. Senator White misunderstood me earlier. What I said about what Senator Fitzgerald was trying to achieve is that it is something that cannot be done under NAMA.

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