Department gets 40 submissions on Nama

THE DEPARTMENT of Finance has received about 40 private submissions from business and the public about its proposed legislation for the establishment of Nama.

A spokesman for the Department confirmed that by the end of last week, up to 30 private individuals had written to Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan on the matter. Roughly a further 10 submissions were received from business bodies or lobby groups.

The spokesman said he expected further representations to emerge over coming weeks as the public debate on Nama continues to play out in the national media.

A finalised version of the Nama Bill is expected to be published just before the Dáil debates the matter on September 16th.

Public submissions may be taken into account when the new formulation is finalised, with advice also to be taken from the Attorney General, the Department of Finance and the National Treasury Management Agency, under whose auspices Nama will operate.

The Nama Bill, as published at the end of last month, contains a number of safeguards against legal challenge, but some commentators still believe it raises constitutional questions.

Mr Lenihan has specifically asked for suggestions as to how it could become more effective. When the Bill was published, he said he hoped to “hear the views of all” on the draft provisions.

Legal experts have suggested that having offered this opportunity to submit ideas could be useful to the Minister in the event of a subsequent challenge to Nama’s operation.

It could be possible, they say, for Mr Lenihan to argue that a challenge has less merit where it relies upon an issue that could have been raised during this period, but was not highlighted.

In an interview with the Sunday Business Post yesterday, the Minister said there had been “very little criticism” on “the vast bulk” of the Nama legislation.

Mr Lenihan said he was open to suggestions on amendments from the Opposition on areas such as transparency and accountability, adding that most discussion to date had focused on valuations.

Much judgment had been based on commentators’ own valuations of properties, valuations which “appear to be made on a back-of-the-envelope basis”, Mr Lenihan said. Valuations have not yet been completed, he said.

The Minister also indicated that the Government could be prepared to take majority stakes in the banks if that was needed after Nama.

While “not prejudging the issue”, he acknowledged that State ownership could end up exceeding 50 per cent.

Any such stake would be in the form of shares that could be traded on the stock market, Mr Lenihan added.