LABOUR PARTY spokeswoman, Joan Burton, has denied a claim by Fianna Fáil that her party leader, Eamon Gilmore, does not understand how the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) is supposed to operate.
She said that far from being unaware that Nama was taking good as well as bad loans, it was precisely this issue and its impact on the economy that Mr Gilmore had raised during a heated Dáil exchange on Tuesday.
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey, had accused Mr Gilmore of displaying basic ignorance about the Nama plan during the exchanges in the Dáil.
She said that Mr Gilmore had raised a number of points about Nama, including the delay in bringing forward the legislation, and the problems about setting it up raised by Dr Michael Somers of the National Treasury Management Agency. “Far from being unaware that Nama was taking good and bad loans, it was precisely this issue and its impact on the economy that Eamon Gilmore was raising, in what was a heated Dáil exchange.
“Specifically the point Eamon Gilmore was trying to make was that the delay in bringing forward the legislation on Nama is causing serious uncertainty for the banking system. Because Nama will take both good and bad loans, banks are unwilling to make good loans to a customer who has development land, in case it will end up going to Nama,” said Ms Burton.
She said that while Nama was delayed, there was also an incentive for property developers to withhold payments to their banks, in the belief that they could get a better deal from Nama.
Ms Burton said the Fianna Fáil attack on the Labour leader was clearly designed to divert attention away from the serious embarrassment caused to the Government by the appearance of Dr Michael Somers last week at the Public Accounts Committee when he raised very serious doubts about the viability of the entire Nama project.
“When the idea of a Nama was first mooted, its purpose was to take bad property loans out of the banks, so that the banks could be restored to financial health.
“When Nama was announced on the day of the emergency budget, it was indicated that some €80-€90 billion in land and development loans would be transferred from the banks to Nama. The Government indicated at that time that both performing and non-performing loans would be transferred to Nama,” said Ms Burton. She said Labour was opposed to the Nama proposal.
