Eoghan Harris (Independent)

To do this, we need access to NAMA. I trust the Minister and his officials will be able to confirm that there is nothing in the Bill to prevent NAMA from making its expertise available to any such State agencies or in any assessment of personal mortgages. I suspect that in the coming five to six years up to 300,000 people will need to have their mortgages reassessed by a neutral agency and then have some policy to sort out the matter. We cannot make banks do this, as it would be another bailout. Let us think of the ethical consequences of asking people who made provident decisions when buying a house to carry those who made improvident decisions in the past few years. Let us think of the ethical and financial morass, in which the one guiding light will be the staff of NAMA. They are the only people with the expertise to make those hard decisions, as well as the compassionate ones.