Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

The poor state of the public finances and the harsh austerity measures being imposed on us are dictating the quality of our lives and services. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, is doing an incredible job for us in Europe to try to claw back some sense of decency for us as a country and to get the best terms possible to deal with the financial situation we have inherited.

I say that for two reasons which concern me, the first of which is NAMA. I raised it in the House on the opening of the Seanad session. Since then I wrote to the CEO of NAMA about its business plans. In his letter of response he said we acquired debts - property to the value of €70 billion for approximately €30 billion. He said the goal of NAMA is to get back at a minimum from the developers what we paid. I am shocked if that is all the business plans have to show. What about all the homeowners who have paid maximum value at the height of the boom? We all still have to pay the full price of our homes. I want the Minister for Finance to attend the House to address the issue concerning NAMA. There must be fairness. There cannot be special treatment for one group of people and much tougher austerity measures being taken on by the homeowners of this country. That is unfair.

I am also concerned about special needs assistants, SNAs. We have approximately 10,500 SNAs in this country. We received an e-mail from the Minister for Education and Skills indicating that he must work something out for approximately 200 others. That means 200 children will be affected. Our job must be to protect children, their care and education in the classroom.