Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for his remarks. It is also important to state that commercial viability is becoming more challenging for developers throughout the sector. Some sites that have planning permission in place are not viable to build on, and this is especially true for certain apartment blocks. Under NAMA's legislation, commercial viability is the most important and relevant factor for NAMA-funded residential development. This basically means that NAMA can only finance developments that are expected to yield a profit. It was given a commercial mandate by this House, this Parliament and the European Commission on the strict basis that it would be a time-limited project. This is why we were allowed to take the loans off the banks in the first place.

The Senator is aware that what are often referred to as "NAMA land" or "NAMA properties" are not owned by NAMA. NAMA owns only the loans. The Senator is fully aware of this and I do not need to point it out. Some people think NAMA owns the land and can do what it likes. It only has ownership of the loans on those sites. NAMA has been successful in achieving its mandate and ultimately it will have a commercial return of €4.2 billion for the taxpayer, together with the delivery of all of the houses. We would all love to see it done more quickly but there are physical problems with services, infrastructure and commercial viability, and NAMA is determined to do everything it can to complete its mandate by the end of 2025, which has been approved by the European Commission.