Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

Yesterday we had somewhat of a rarity in this House when we had a flock of Ministers or, as Senator Norris described it, a whirligig of Ministers, coming in and out to debate the NAMA legislation. Despite the presence of all these Ministers, however, they failed to convince the majority of Members on this side of the House on the merits of setting up the National Asset Management Agency. We had an interesting discussion about long-term economic value but those of us on this side of the House remain to be convinced that this is the proper approach and that it will protect taxpayers. It is clear from the NAMA legislation that bond holders are being bailed out but I raise the issue of mortgage holders, which is topical given that people are falling into arrears and the difficulties in which families find themselves. The Irish Banking Federation appeared before the committee and made statements on this. Today's headlines include, for example, that the "Banks' pledge to home owners is 'useless'". I want to raise with the Leader this question of the Government approach to mortgage holders and whether there can be any legislative basis to this. Perhaps there cannot be and if so, I want to know what approach the Government will take to monitor the situation and ensure that the banks reach out to mortgage holders as much as possible in the current crisis. That is what ordinary persons facing these arrears are seeking. They see €54 billion being given to save the banks, and yet for the individuals struggling there is no sense of any underpinning, certainly of a statutory nature, to any support that they might get. This is a critical question.

Last night Fine Gael sought to include in the purposes of the Act - if, a Chathaoirligh, I could just revisit that for a moment - that there would be lending to small and medium size enterprises, in particular. We sought this as a purpose or goal of the Act and we were told that this could not be put into the legislation. Everyone's understanding of NAMA is that it would increase liquidity and help business, but we cannot put it into the purposes of the Act.

Likewise, is the pledge to homeowners hopeless or does the Government intend to take action, whether in the form of statute or guidelines, to ensure that there is some meaning behind what the federation is stating at present.