STATEMENTS:THE NATIONAL Asset Management Agency (Nama) would "heap huge risk on taxpayers' shoulders", Sinn Féin finance spokesman Arthur Morgan told the Oireachtas committee on finance.
Mr Morgan said he believed the solution to the State's economic problems was to nationalise the banks, at least on a temporary basis. He said banks could not be expected to act in good faith "given their track record".
Independent Senator Shane Ross claimed that Nama was not a bailout for the builders, but a bailout for the bankers.
"Nama is nothing else but a massive gamble," he said. "We're getting into a mindset here . . . that prices are going to rise and prices are going to rise in the very short term. I don't know where anybody got that idea from," he said.
Mr Ross said the country was going through an economic slump such as had not been experienced in the history of the State.
He said he wanted to know what "Plan B" was.
Mr Lenihan replied: "There is a difference between intelligent estimation and pure gambling."
Independent Senator Feargal Quinn said State bodies had on some occasions not been allowed to operate properly.
He said a large amount of power was being given to the Minister for Finance of the day under the Nama Bill.
He asked Mr Lenihan to "recognise the need for some overseeing, maybe by an Oireachtas committee".
Fine Gael TD George Lee said he shared Mr Ross's concern about the independence of valuers the Government would use under the Nama plan. "Who are they? How exactly will they decide on the value but most particularly, when?" he asked.
Mr Lee said this would affect how the banks behaved.
Fianna Fáil TD Tom Kitt said all parties must try to find agreement on the issue. "We won't agree on everything but this is too important for future generations for us to use our traditional methods of opposition," he said.
Mr Kitt said he supported the idea of a "watchdog body".
A number of Fianna Fáil representatives at the committee praised former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald's contribution to the debate on Nama.
Dr FitzGerald, a former leader of Fine Gael, said he was concerned that a Dáil rejection of Nama legislation, as well as budget spending cuts and tax increases, could leave the State vulnerable to intervention by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Fine Gael deputy Seán Barrett said that he had "never heard Fianna Fáil being so vociferous" in praise of Dr FitzGerald.
