The NAMA Debate

29th October, 2009

We are having a specific debate on the NAMA business plan this afternoon in the Seanad. I have spent the morning getting my contribution ready. Just watched Eugene Regan lacerate the Government in his most Senior Council fashion possible. There was a pretty nervous air around Leinster House yesterday. The fall in banking shares and statements by the Government about the slowness of the legislation did not make for a very positive Wednesday afternoon. As I look into the Dail chamber now it appears to me that the proposal to hold Committee stage in the full chamber was the wrong idea. The place is mostly empty.

I’m going to be tackling the Government on a part of the NAMA jigsaw that has attracted little debate. That’s the question of why the Government is taking on nearly €15 billion of derivative positions. More on this to follow.