Publish An Bord Snip report, says O'Rourke

FIANNA FÁIL TD and former minister Mary O’Rourke has called for the An Bord Snip Nua report to be published before the summer break or it would become “an albatross around our necks” in the Lisbon Treaty referendum.

The report was handed to Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan yesterday afternoon and is expected to be considered by the Cabinet next week.

A number of other Fianna Fáil TDs, including Beverley Flynn and Niall Collins, have called for the publication of the report once it has been considered by the Cabinet, but a decision on that will not be made until Ministers have had time to digest its contents.

The report of the Expenditure Review Group, chaired by economist Colm McCarthy, is expected to suggest ways to save €5 billion in public service costs.

In the Dáil, Taoiseach Brian Cowen came under pressure to publish the report before the Dáil rises tomorrow, but he refused to give that commitment.

Mr Lenihan also told the Dáil that the process of valuing land and building projects to be managed by the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) had yet to be decided.

He repeated that Nama would take overperforming – as well as impaired – development loans when it was established, and said these would involve land and building projects that would include completed schemes.