Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I accept what Senator Twomey says. The question that arises is, in the event of NAMA making a loss - I hope it will not do so - whether the taxpayer or the participating institutions should bear that loss. Either one believes it should be the those institutions or one does not. If there is going to be a future liability, I accept that this will overhang the successful participating institutions. However, we have tried to avoid creating a situation whereby these institutions will be obliged to provide for this on their balance sheets by way of a contingent liability because this would have a detrimental effect. We are trying to repair those balance sheets rather than do something which would have further adverse effects on them.

We have tried to ensure the banks will not be obliged to put money aside. There could be a surcharge in ten years' time. The most effective way to assess the percentage each participating institution will contribute to the surcharge is that laid out in the section.