THE DÁIL chamber will be made available for the committee stage of the debate on Nama, with over 200 amendments expected to be tabled by the Government and Opposition parties.
Fine Gael yesterday published 99 amendments to Nama, including a new home-owner support scheme proposal.
Its finance spokesman, Richard Bruton, said the scheme would protect up to 25,000 Irish families whose homes may be threatened by the downturn.
The party also called for Nama’s business plan to be referred to the Comptroller and Auditor General for audit and scrutiny.
In an unusual move, the Government yesterday agreed to a compromise whereby the next stage of the debate will not be held in the committee rooms of Leinster House but in the main Dáil chamber.
The committee stage is expected to begin next Thursday, and will continue for four days the following week, during the period when the Dáil and Seanad are in recess for the mid-term break.
By making the Dáil chamber available, it will allow all TDs and Senators to attend and participate in the debate. However, only the 12 TDs who are members of the All-Party Select Committee on Finance will be entitled to vote on the amendments.
This debate will not be chaired by the Ceann Comhairle but by the chairman of the select committee, Fianna Fáil TD Michael Ahern.
The move came as Government Ministers yesterday discussed a number of amendments to Nama during its second Cabinet meeting this week.
Last night Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan strongly defended the NAMA business plan. He said it was a draft business plan and not a statement of hope, as Mr Bruton and his Labour counterpart Joan Burton have contended.
He said that hundreds of officials had been involved in drafting it.
“Some of the comments in the Dáil suggest corruption and suggest impropriety. I can assure you that we have a fine public service and it has put a lot of work into the legislation. This draft business plan brings out the work,” he said.
He said he was open to constructive criticism from the oppositions on the Nama legislation. “That should be the focus for the next couple of weeks.
“The European Commission have told us to do this as quickly as possible. I believe we should all work together and do this as quickly as possible,” he said.
He also confirmed that the amendments to the legislation agreed by Cabinet yesterday will be published today. He said a statement would accompany them.
Mr Bruton yesterday said only those “who believed in the tooth fairy, the Loch Ness monster and the Easter Bunny” would believe the figures in the Nama plan.
He challenged the assertion by Mr Lenihan that only 20 per cent of Nama loans would default, and also its claim the asset-management agency would make an effective profit of €5.5 billion by 2020.
The Labour Party said last night that it had upward of 50 amendments, which itwould publish today. The party spokesman said some of the amendments were being brought in a vacuum as it expected the Government itself to produce a raft of amendments.
According to Sinn Féin, its finance spokesman Arthur Morgan will today publish between 20 to 30 amendments.
Mr Bruton said the home-owner support scheme would allow Nama take an equity share in a home after negotiating a write-down in the outstanding debt with the bank or mortgage provider.
The property owner would pay the lower debt and would also pay a rental fee to Nama for the equity share. Mr Bruton said the householder would have a choice at the end of the process to buy back the Nama equity share or to share the sale price with Nama if the property was sold.
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