Cowen outlines key policy hurdles

TAOISEACH'S AGENDA:PASSING THE Lisbon Treaty referendum, establishing the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) and passing the December budget are three measures which "will position Ireland to benefit from the recovery we are beginning to see in some other countries", Taoiseach Brian Cowen told the Dáil.

He believed that if these measures were not passed “we would be condemning ourselves to a period of stagnation, isolation and further deterioration in our economic circumstances”.

During the debate on the Nama Bill to stabilise the banking system, Mr Cowen insisted the agency was not a bailout for developers or banks.

“If there is one message I want the House and the citizens of this State to be absolutely clear about it is that Nama is not designed to be, and will not be, permitted to operate in practice as a bailout mechanism for anybody who has operated irresponsibly.

“In relation to those who took these development-related loans, the agency will continue to treat them as borrowers who continue to owe the full amount of their loan.

“Just to be clear on this – anyone whose bank loan is purchased by Nama will have to repay Nama just as he or she would have had to repay the bank originally.”

Mr Cowen acknowledged that “this piece of legislation is one of the most important economic Bills that has come before the House since independence and therefore it is important that it is debated thoroughly before this House. Not just so we deputies can have our say, but that the taxpaying public can understand with clarity the decisions we propose taking on their behalf.”

He said: “We are going through difficult times but we cannot be blinded by the difficulties and we must have courage. We must act. We must take the future into our own hands and not wait until fate decides our future for us.”

During “this critical period for our country, I want our people to know that there are actions we can take to improve our situation and increase our chances of returning to prosperity”.

He said passing the Lisbon Treaty would “give us a stronger and more efficient Europe, with Ireland influencing and shaping events that affect us. The setting up of Nama, which will help solve the banking crisis, and the passing of a budget will continue the process of putting our public finances back on a sustainable footing in the coming years.”

Criticising the Opposition, he said they “seem unable to understand, or unwilling to acknowledge, that not all loans will be paid for at a premium to market value”.

He added that most of the Opposition had concentrated on the risk to taxpayers that “Nama will not recover sufficient funds to pay back the bonds issued. They have ignored the very real risk to the taxpayers that the economy is paralysed by banks which are unable to lend.”

Passing the legislation “will cleanse the balance sheets of the Irish banks and so enable them to increase the provision of credit, which is their core role in the economy”.