Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

What the Minister is trying to do through NAMA is restore confidence in the banking system and, through that, in the economy. With that in mind, I want to ask about his response to material linked to this amendment concerning confidence in the Minister's projections that has been put in the public arena by Mr. Peter Mathews - I know the Minister has looked at this material. I would like to hear the Minister's response to what Mr. Mathews says in regard to the assumptions underlying NAMA. He suggests that the assumption there would be 100% recovery on the €30.8 billion of performing loans is completely wishful thinking, bordering on fanciful, and the assumption that there will be 50% recovery on the €46.2 billion of non-performing loans is equally fanciful. He goes on to quote what the Minister's adviser, Dr. Alan Ahearne, said last year in regard to the banks, namely, that they should sell these loans at fair market value.

I raise this point simply because it is very much in the public domain and has been circulated to all Senators and Deputies. I am genuinely interested in this. We were talking about whether NAMA would make a profit, and there was also some discussion on this point earlier. On Mr. Mathews's figures, he suggests NAMA will make a loss of between €12 billion and €18 billion, and that the assumptions the Minister is putting forward in the business plan and elsewhere are quite fanciful. I would like to hear the Minister's response to that today. Quite a number of papers have been presented to all of us by this gentleman. The question is linked to this issue of confidence and the desire to achieve confidence in this plan. Will the Minister address the House in regard to the points that have been made about the potential losses of between €12 billion and €18 billion?