Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Michael D'Arcy. I may not agree with everything in the Bill but I agree with Senator Norris's sentiment and applaud his intent. This Bill was before the Oireachtas Joint Committee Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach a short time ago and I see the committee Chairman, Deputy John McGuinness, in the Gallery.

I have had time to reflect on the Bill. I asked myself the following questions. Do we have a problem with people with mortgages? The answer is "Yes". Why have we a problem? It is a legacy issue. In the years 2005 to 2007 many people bought houses at an astronomical cost because the property market was allowed to run on unchecked. We are talking about responsibility. Fianna Fáil has to take a share of the responsibility for that.

The issue is how to address this problem now. The Bill before us is about effectively addressing the issue in terms of the vulture funds, a view which I share. We need to take a serious look at how the banks dispose of their loans. From the discussions I would have had with people who are involved in property and in property rental, there are concerns in the Dublin market about the level of control some of the vulture funds have in the property market. We need to look at this issue. Perhaps we need to introduce controls in the market. We cannot have a situation where a large group has some sort of control over property rentals.

I have a number of questions on what is proposed in this Bill. It has been stated that the State will have to underwrite the funding. It may be regarded as another mini-NAMA. The structure is not that different. Second, on the question of the European Investment Fund, it is proposed that the rules would have to be changed, but could the rules be changed? Is that a practical measure?