Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

It must be done in a transparent and up-front way. The different public authorities must pay a reasonable price for whatever is being required in order that the NAMA operation proceeds with its correct commercial purposes. There is ample power under the Bill to deal with the specific issue raised by Senator Mullen, that of emergency housing, transitional housing and the acquisition of property. This is an issue which will have to be dealt with by NAMA and the relevant local authorities. There is no question about this.

Several Senators have mentioned the fact that private purchasers are not in funds, but the cost of housing for private purchasers has fallen dramatically in recent times. That fall makes it easier to buy housing. When we repair and restore the banking system, greater finance will be available for first-time buyers to acquire properties. Aside from this, there are large blocks of property which will be at the disposal of the agency and in respect of which it can enter into arrangements with the local authority or voluntary group for their occupation. The interim chief executive has engaged with many voluntary groups which provide social and emergency accommodation. This will have to be done on a transparent financial basis.

There are financial mechanisms available to the State such as the Housing Finance Agency which can seek to construct the necessary financial mechanism. However, NAMA cannot be the financial mechanism to do it because were it to be such a mechanism, it would make a loss. That is something we do not want to visit on it, which is not to say its establishment will not facilitate many social objectives; it will. When institutions such as this were formed in other jurisdictions, one experience was that a large amount of social and affordable housing was relocated within a particular area. As we know from the Irish experience, many of the properties we have are located in the wrong place. There is demand again in Dublin for semi-detached properties, but there is a large surplus of properties in counties Leitrim and Longford. The local authorities may have a part in actually resettling people in these areas. That has been the experience in other countries.