Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

I am conscious that the officials and the Minister are probably concerned about spooking the market in terms of how specific or prescriptive they are on the surcharge, but further clarity is required. I do not support the amendment but how will the surcharge be calculated? As Senator Twomey said, if one were to predict now the least likely to make a profit, it would be Anglo Irish Bank and it would also be the most likely contender in terms of any losses that might be sustained. It is not clear how the level of surcharge will be apportioned to each institution. We need more detail on that. Apart from Anglo Irish Bank it is theoretically possible that some of the institutions will make profits while others will not. Does that mean we lose because we are only in a position to apportion whatever percentage of surcharge on the profits made versus the percentage of loans originally taken over by NAMA? That is a concern and I believe the public would like us to be a little more definite about potential losses. Of course we are all very hopeful, if not confident, that it will be in a break even, if not a profitable, position and that this will not arise. However, as with section 210 and the valuations issue, this is a key issue for me. It would be good if we could get more detail on it.

I am conscious of spooking the markets unnecessarily but it would be reasonable if banks were to pay into a fund a percentage, to be determined by the officials and the Minister, from any profits made per annum over the next ten years in anticipation of any prospective loss. It is prudent to put it aside notwithstanding that we are hopeful, if not confident, that NAMA will be in a profitable or at least break even position. It would give further comfort to the public if an amount of any prospective profits over the next ten years were put aside by the participating institutions.

To recap, how will the surcharge be split in the event of a loss, as some will be profitable and some will not? Can we put provisions in place whereby profitable institutions would put funds aside?