During a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service, I said: inasmuch as I have been asked to, I wish to declare my interests. My declaration of interests has been published and to the best of my knowledge I do not hold any bank shares at this stage. I have been impressed that the Minister has come before the joint committee, answered questions and clarified matters. As far as I can gather, everyone present is anxious to support the solution and if that solution is NAMA, the Minister is providing members with the opportunity to have an input into it. I have four questions to which I would welcome responses....

Members have been told that when developers went to the bank for a loan, in most cases the latter put up 75%. If such loans were made five years ago, I suspect that in most cases the developer did not get around to paying any interest and that such interest was rolled over for the entire five-year period. While this matter was discussed previously, how soon will NAMA know the extent to which this rolled-up interest has changed the figure from 75% to something that may be much greater? While I assume this will not be known immediately, one may know what the figure is by the time one gets into all five institutions.

The second point pertains to an article I read in last Thursday’s edition of The Irish Times concerning foreign banks which believe it will be impossible for them to trade here. Rabobank was one such bank that made this point. Its chief financial officer stated: “it is not really possible for non-Irish banks to compete on that market any more”. As for the five institutions that are to be designated, can other banks or financial institutions that are not so designated apply and, if they do so, will they be accepted? Otherwise, might the Minister accept more than the existing five institutions and will institutions such as, for example, Ulster Bank be allowed to be included in this regard?

My third question pertains to property values and how one goes about taking them. On that basis, while one must take a long-term view of perhaps ten to 15 years, rather than a short-term view, if I understand correctly, we will pay up-front. It has been suggested that we should consider either staggering that payment or making it in different stages by splitting it, instead of making it all at one time. I acknowledge it is being done on the basis of bonds which can be cashed.

However, given that the Minister referred to a sum of approximately €60 billion, could this be divided into payments of €30 billion now and €30 billion at a later stage when more is known about what is happening? I refer to another point that was made earlier, namely, the large amount of power that will be given to the Minister in this case. While it will not necessarily be the present Minister, in future years the Minister for Finance will have a great deal of power to interfere or, as someone suggested, meddle in the work of NAMA.

I believe there is a need for an outside democratic intervention albeit not necessarily a watchdog. Might the Minister recognise the need for some oversight in this regard, perhaps by an Oireachtas committee? I am concerned about the power a future Minister will have. I know from experience that on occasion State bodies have not been allowed to operate correctly. The Minister explained why he believes there is a need for the power and I recognise that power should be maintained in some form or other. I suggest it could be much more democratically exercised through an arrangement whereby an Oireachtas joint committee would be able to oversee it. I am not sure about the efficiency of that or how it would work but I suggest it might ease the concerns of some that a future Minister will interfere too much in the operations of NAMA, which we hope will succeed in its objectives.

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