Paul Nicholas Gogarty
Dublin Mid-West · Independent · Ireland
“As I have mentioned in the House before, if a border poll passes by 52% to 48%, the legal threshold of the Good Friday Agreement is met but the social consensus is not and moving 800,000 citizens into a new state against their explicit, democratic will does risk causing civil unrest.”
“We also have other gaps that are much smaller, like a ten-year phased transition, reducing the net annual cost to between €2.5 billion and €3 billion. We then had the middle figure of about €11 billion. We actually do not know how much it is going to cost but we do know it is going to cost something.”
“For example, adopting a single currency, getting rid of the exchange rate volatility and the transaction costs for cross-Border businesses are all advantages.”
“I would be loath to call a border poll right now because of the risks associated with that, but if a border poll did occur, the State would have to be prepared for the huge structural disruptions that would follow, so we have to start working now - that is why this debate is welcome - without arrogantly presuming it is going to become a r…”
“I have been listening to this debate in my office since Deputy Currie started her contribution. I always follow these debates on Irish unity with interest as someone who wants to see a united Ireland by consent.”
“Some have been mentioned in this House, such as a devolved regional assembly in Stormont to preserve local governance for the unionist community, a shared bill of rights protecting the dual Irish-British citizenship, and re-evaluating our relationship with the Commonwealth.”
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“I acknowledge that the Germans, the Danish and the Cypriots have different approaches to this and that is why it is very hard, in a Europe-wide context, to get absolute righteous condemnation of what the Israeli state has been doing. Should the FAI decide to carry on with the matches, for whatever reason, I do not think anyone in this House or in the campaign should criticise it for not being as morally upright as someone else. We are in a particular situation in relation to this. We can make our own self-sacrifice and be potentially relegated in respect of our placings. We could lose out on automatic qualification. I hope things go well and we are in the European Football Championship anyway. Fundamentally, by handing six points to the Israeli team, we would give them a gilt-edged welcome to come to these islands for the championship.”
“By the same token, there are a couple of other countries I would add to that as regards being murderous and mistreating their own people. However, the Israelis take the biscuit. I say that while condemning Hamas wholeheartedly, acknowledging that innocent Israelis have been killed and condemning that. At the same time, Israel has killed multiples more Palestinian people. What it has done in Gaza is genocide. The Irish Government has gone to some lengths in regard to the International Court of Justice, the watered-down occupied territories Bill, which we should be pushing further, and the debates we have had on the financial situation and how far we should be pushing our European colleagues.”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach. If Deputy Tóibín comes in, I will cede to him. I support this motion in principle and if gets to a vote, I will vote in favour of it, in some ways, symbolically. The message has to be sent out in any forum that Ireland stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine. We know we will ultimately vote on the Government's amendment, which I will not support. In the context of what people are being asked, and I hope this will be the case after the debate, I agree that the Government should make it easy for the FAI to make a decision. If the FAI has to make a decision, it has to do so on the back of cowardice by FIFA and UEFA. They did not take the same approach to the genocidal Israeli regime as they did to Russia when it invaded Ukraine.”
“It has a range of about 120 km, which is sufficient most of the time, although if I am travelling down the country, I have to stop off a few times. For someone in rural Ireland, a 250 km or 300 km range goes quite quickly. We have to encourage people in rural areas to invest in these types of vehicles at an affordable rate, alongside taking up grants for solar. We need to ensure that people get fair prices for exporting home-grown energy from their solar panels and make retrofitting affordable in the first place. The roll-out of retrofitting in local authority housing remains abysmal. We are still hitting those who can least afford it.”
“We have to go the vocational route because there are huge incomes to be made in data centres if someone is an electrician, for example. However, if we have demand from companies to store data in Ireland, the only way it will be done is if we have a massive surplus of capacity, which is not what we have been gearing towards. I note, although it is not being done in this legislation, the trial EV scrappage scheme of €5,000. I welcome this measure because for some vehicles, it will bring the price of a new EV with a range of between 200 km and 300 km down to around €12,000, which is an affordable amount for a credit union loan. I welcome the measure but it needs to be put on a better footing, with more of an incentive on top. In Dublin, I have been driving a 24 kW EV for the last ten years.”
“As I and others have said in this House, the measures were too little and too late. Nevertheless, we are extending them for another period of time. I would have preferred to have seen them extended to September because I cannot see the Strait of Hormuz crisis being sorted out by then, given the incumbent in the White House. The measures are welcome insofar as they are coming forward, but they should have been for a longer duration and for greater amounts, while being cognisant at all times that the bigger picture, the strategic picture, is, as I have said previously, our energy self-sufficiency and the fact that we are slow to ramp up to self-sufficiency and cut down on the massive amounts of foreign imports for which we are paying. In the new era in which AI will impact on certain types of jobs, we have to find other types of jobs.”
“Here we are again with yet another extension. Nobody in this House disputes the value of the legislation but we have been bringing this Covid-era legislation on for five years to allow outdoor dining. At this stage, we have to get to the real legislation. My understanding is it has been tied up at committee with other stuff added on. We should have stand-alone legislation and get it through quickly to give permanent security to the many businesses that are feeling the pressure, especially with fuel price hikes. We need to move beyond this and get to the actual legislation. I am conscious that my time has been cut into, so I will use my last few seconds to wish Sarah in the Public Gallery a very happy birthday.”
“We should be identifying deepwater ports for this type of technology in order that with battery storage and green hydrogen conversion - and the best rate of this is 60% of overall power production - we are self-sufficient in energy so we have capacity to make revenue from data companies and export to the grid through France and the UK. There is a massive good news story as part of a global effort to reduce climate emissions but even if we are doing our bit and no one else is and things will get worse down the line, we need that food security and that energy self-sufficiency for whatever world faces us. We need to look at the money we have and spend it strategically now, borrowing if necessary, because we might not understand it right now but we are facing a wartime situation in terms of climate and future shocks around the globe.”
“I am a firm believer in giving options for cycling and for public transport but in many areas in my constituency there are parking wars because people have no option but to drive. You give them somewhere to park and make it hard to get around in the immediate environment to encourage other modes of transport but you create sustainable communities by giving people different options. The key to giving people options is having energy self-security. While we have some progress in offshore wind, there have not been any new contracts for many years. We have some movement on solar but we have absolutely nothing on tidal or wave. We are way behind, laggards, compared with the likes of Denmark. Those two technologies might be in their infancy but we should be at the forefront in developing them.”
“As regards the medium term, we heard the Minister, Darragh O'Brien, today try to wangle his way out of why we are not doing what we should be doing in terms of meeting our climate emissions targets. We have so much potential in the next two or three years to create that self-sufficiency. I note that the Minister did say the private wires legislation is coming. That will enable people who can have solar panels on their own houses to store the energy in batteries in those houses. It will also hopefully mean that when we are trying to encourage more people to go with EVs, and when they are in the newer housing estates operated by management companies, they can put a cable under the ground and get their domestic tariff. You can tackle climate change by still allowing people to drive.”
“Long term, even though we have enough beef and dairy to supply 32 million people with, that is not a runner in terms of sustainability. In addition, without the imported feed and without the nitrate, our production capacity in that unhealthy way would be damaged. I mentioned issues like having a strategic food reserve, including being able to increase our tillage for strategic purposes, diversification into the likes of fava beans, which can be used for all sorts of protein, and making sure that, like the Netherlands, which is way ahead of us, we can actually react. The same thing relates to our oil reserves in the short to medium term. We should not let them go down or leave them in the hands of a private operator because we would be vastly stuck if the supply were to stop entirely.”
“In general terms, we are in a period of boom again, although there have been warnings about the impact of AI on jobs and, as the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council says every year, our overdependence on a very small cohort of foreign multinationals. We have revenue right now that needs to be spent strategically but we do need to spend that money. There are several areas I wish to deal with in my brief amount of time to make a contribution. A recent interaction of mine was with the Taoiseach during Leaders' Questions, when I mentioned the issue of food security. What if we had some form of naval blockade or another global pandemic that impacted the supply of food to this country? I laid out a scenario in which our shelves would be seriously impacted within a couple of weeks.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on preparation for any type of future impact on our State. The one we had recently was obviously the ongoing fuel crisis related to Trump's illogical and downright dumb actions in the Strait of Hormuz and the way the United States and Israel are attacking the Iranian regime. It is an admittedly corrupt and murderous regime but that is not how you topple dictators, and we are suffering the consequences. Five years before that, we had to deal with the Covid pandemic. Ten years before that, we had a massive economic downturn, which successive Governments were responsible for making worse before we had to take those necessary but harsh measures that hurt a lot of people at the time.”
“The Government's commitment to a permanent cost-of-disability payment is set out in the programme for Government. According to the Minister, the Government is looking at that this year. I hope it will be substantial rather than a case of kicking the can down the road. In that context, I support a once-off payment in light of the ongoing pressures relating to fuel, energy and inflation. The cost of living hits disabled people the hardest. Long-term supports are urgently needed. What sort of society are we if we do not protect our most vulnerable?”
“We then have all the additional energy and fuel-related cost-of-living increases that people are having to cope with thanks to international events. Rents have also increased. The cost of disability is reflected in the unavoidable extra spending that disabled people face every day, including in respect of mobility aids, transport, communication supports, care medicines, equipment and adapted appliances. As stated on previous occasions, many disabled passengers rely on taxis because they cannot drive or afford an adapted car or cannot depend on public transport that is either inaccessible or unreliable. Even the BusConnects changes can make journeys harder. Two wheelchair users often cannot travel together because older buses lack adequate space to accommodate them. That is a whole load of extra costs and hidden discrimination.”
“People with disabilities face additional rising costs and are struggling in light of reduced supports. The Government provided one-off cost-of-disability supports in the aftermath of Covid-19. In budget 2026, all of those were removed and nothing else was put in place. At least one in four people with disabilities is at risk of poverty. That is a terrible statistic. Previously, I have referenced that the cost of living with a disability might average up to €15,000 per year in the current economic climate. That is way beyond what the current supports cover. While the overall increase of the €10 was welcome, many people have seen their income fall in real terms since the budget. Removing the living alone allowance, the disability support grants, electricity credits and the October double payment has hit hard.”
“We are living in a public transport desert where people do not have sufficient access to get around the greater Dublin area in the way that is required. People can go in and out of town and I acknowledge there have been improvements between Blanchardstown, Lucan, Clondalkin and Tallaght, but we do not have enough of the critical short-term routes that are reliable so that people will say, "You know what, I will put the kids on the bus and we will go to the crèche that way," or, "I know I can get to work reliably, I will drop them off en route and get back on within the 90-minute plan." It has not worked and we need more direct political control along with independent analysis of the services to make sure we have something that is fit for purpose.”
“Transport and planning are absolutely interlinked. I have not got absolute clarity on it but I know there is a plan to upgrade the grid for the DART+ South West but I am not absolutely sure. I have put in a few parliamentary questions about when that grid capacity will be guaranteed as well as the funding for the DART+ South West. Until the Government provides that service to cater for the existing planned extra 10,000 houses between Lucan and Clondalkin it cannot talk about rezoning more land and creating more unsustainable areas. Similarly, the Luas for Lucan was originally supposed to be completed by now. Now, however, looking at the renewed emerging preferred route it will not be completed until 2036.”
“People are told not to worry about it because they are right beside a train station. It is not utopia. Deputy Shane Moynihan had a go at me on "The Late Debate" for saying that in 20 years these are going to be ghettos. I did not say that because they are badly built but because if there are not amenities and infrastructure and a proper 15-minute city where people can walk and have all the facilities beside each other, it is going to create social unrest. In Adamstown we have a related policy where my proposal for a department store was turned down by South Dublin County Council because it would upset the retail hierarchy of Liffey Valley and Tallaght. Therefore, people have to get the bus to Liffey Valley to do their shopping, or a lot of the time they have to drive because they cannot rely on the bus turning up.”
“In one of my first speeches during my first term as a TD I remarked on how the train network in the 1950s was massively bigger than it is now. There is no reason in the world why we should not be building that rail gauge as well and focusing on that type of investment. I want to refer to our planning laws. In south Dublin, the Government wants to be seen to be doing something about the housing crisis. In an area of south Dublin there is zoning for 56,000 housing units, with 12,000 with planning applications in situ . The Government is now proposing another 9,000 units in areas such as Lucan, where we have a massive number of houses yet to be built in areas like Clonburris and Adamstown, where people cannot get basic amenities like parking spaces and where there is no solution for putting in a cable to charge an EV.”
“I am also supportive of bringing some of the population from hard-pressed areas like Dublin to rural areas. I have mentioned before that in terms of policy for the software and pharmaceutical industries we could have a golden triangle between Tullamore, Mullingar and Athlone. There are lots of small towns and villages around there that could do with a few extra students for schools. West of the Shannon the same thing could apply with hybrid working or community working hubs where people should be able to get a local bus along a route and work from home some of the time and repopulate the areas where the schools are losing teachers. While the population nationally and in major urban centres is going up, it is falling in rural areas. We need to support rural Ireland with a transport system that works.”
“That is what I mean when I say the NTA is not fit for purpose. A directly elected mayor for the greater Dublin area or for Dublin could look at these issues, take on board what people are saying, respond and, if a mistake is made, adjust it again. The NTA seems to be coming from a position of it knowing what is best. It does not, because if it did people would not be cheesed off constantly. That brings me to the bigger national issue in terms of what we need to be doing for routes. I am not from a rural constituency, but in the lifetime of the previous Government we had a massive roll-out of rural Local Link services, which seems to have slowed down a little bit now. I am all for people being able to live in the rural communities they grew up in.”
“The 80 is a temporary solution and we will be back arguing what is going to happen with the 80 in a couple of months time. There are issues with the L51 and L52 not turning up. We have issues with the C spines. We have an issue in Adamstown where, because of delays, the NTA ran a route down Adamstown Boulevard for two years as a temporary route, pending finding another temporary route that is going closer to the long-term route. Meanwhile, they have built another 5,000 houses and people are wondering why they cannot have that route along the boulevard. From Adamstown Station, along Adamstown Boulevard there could be a reconstituted 25 route through the village and into town. In essence, there is no response to the needs of users when they express their frustration at the bus service.”
“At the same time, there are L buses that are not turning up, so what is supposed to be a half-hourly service turns into an hourly service. In Lucan we have a number of GAA clubs, one of which is Garda Westmanstown Gaels, located between Lucan and Clonsilla. If the L52 does not turn up and people are trying to go to training, for example, they are stuck. The traffic along that route between Clonsilla and Lucan is a nightmare at the best of times, but particularly at peak time in the evenings when people are trying to get somewhere. With another GAA club, Lucan Sarsfields, it is different in that there is not a bus route in the first place. People have no choice but to drive there. I do not want to get into mentioning specific routes that have problems but I could list some, such as the 13, about which people have expressed views.”
“People have not faith in the process or that the spine routes will have enough capacity. On the one hand, I have people involved in Dublin Bus telling me that the company could put an auxiliary route on halfway along to catch up where buses are already full. Then the NTA comes back and says that it will allow that but if it happens two or three days on an ongoing basis, a full route will have to be provided. That is not necessarily workable because those auxiliary buses are there for specific instances, particularly with all the hybrid working right now, and when we add in concerts, school events, weekend events, etc. There needs to be the flexibility of an auxiliary service whereby if people are waiting too long, an auxiliary bus can be started halfway along a route.”
“It is hugely discommoding for someone to have to get off a bus and try to get another wheelchair-accessible bus to get from A to B, when they were able to do that in one go originally. Similarly with older people, I have used the app and in some cases it is faster to get from A to B by timing stuff and looking at maps and when it works, it works well. As I have said before as well, when BusConnects rolls out and if it is properly staffed, people in my survey expressed confidence that it would work quite well and when it was rolled out and properly staffed, it would be like the London Underground, but overground. However, it is not working like that at all. That is because of buses not turning up and staff shortages. Every time a new route is put on an existing route has to be robbed from.”
“This is casting no aspersions on the staff working in the NTA, who I acknowledge are dedicated, but as an institution and organisation the NTA is not fit for purpose. It is not fit for reflecting the views expressed to it by individuals collating all that information. So far with BusConnects I have found that it is discriminating against people with disabilities and older people with bus passes. They are the ones who are least able to hop on, hop off and use the apps. Maybe the hope is that by the time the whole thing rolls out they will have died out, which I think would be quite a cynical approach. If we look at people with disabilities for example, at the moment usually only one wheelchair can fit on a bus.”
“There is the issue in the legislation itself, there is the bigger picture nationally and then of course there are the more parochial local issues. I am not quite sure, but I know I have been shifted around in the speaking rota so I will deal with the local issues first in case I have to cede the time later on in the discussion and, if not, I will use it to elaborate on the bigger issues. The Government is talking about widening the NTA's remit across the country. I have an issue with the NTA's remit here in Dublin that I have mentioned before. One of the questions on my Bus Correct survey of two years ago was whether or not the NTA should be managed more directly and, in a Dublin context, that would be from a directly elected mayor.”
“I know those tenants have first refusal but the landlord can offset the cost of the works by resetting the rent and refilling the property. Will the Government enact legislation to defeat this loophole?”
“The run-up to the Residential Tenancies Act 2026 was overshadowed, as we debated, by a massive increase in evictions. We will see if the Act delivers stronger protections going forward. In the meantime, I will highlight again a loophole that becomes more attractive now. It concerns overcrowding and refurbishment. Overcrowding complaints still fall under the Housing Act 1966 and the 2019 housing standard regulations, and not the new legislation. The definition of "unsuitable for habitation" is quite broad. In a tight rental market, tenants currently stay silent about poor conditions. With landlords able to reset rents after refurbishment, there is a real risk that some will seek out inspections and use any issue as grounds for substantial renovation, such as extra rooms, and then hike the rents once the original tenants have moved on.”
“On 29 April during the debate on my Private Members' motion, we had a very good debate on the need to reform the in camera rule in the family law system. Equally, the issue of court-appointed experts was also brought up. If someone wants to make a complaint about a social worker, for example, and they are trying to be in line with the in camera rule, they can do that by making a complaint to CORU. I am aware of a situation where people allege that they were gaslit and sometimes lied about during reports as children, when they were under age. Now that they have reached adulthood, they want to make a complaint. Unfortunately, CORU's fitness to practice powers did not come in until December 2014. Is there a mechanism whereby these individuals can make a complaint?”
“The reason I mentioned people with long-term illnesses and particularly the lady recovering from breast cancer, is as well as being out of work, they have additional costs and they do not have that support base at a time they have contributed and they need that little bit of extra help. It is a valid point to make and I take on board what the Minister has said. I hope that there may be some sort of a process that could help people in the short to medium term.”
“I am flagging the issue. I am not expecting overnight action but in the context of the budget, it could be a process moving on. I am a firm believer in developing an entrepreneurial and creative society and giving people the opportunity to move forward. However, we have to protect the most vulnerable, as I and others have said all the time. The old Marx quote is probably the only bit of Marxism that is still relevant today: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." There are people who have contributed over many years who then get into a position of need.”
“Work is an important part of my DNA and I miss all the social interaction. I was brought up to be independent. I've been fortunate enough that I did get some sick pay from my employer and I did have some insurance cover in place, savings for college fees. etc. However, I've been sick for over two years, I have been impacted financially and there are many, many people in the same boat I've met through my illness, some without any supports and it's not right. People who, like me, paid taxes at the higher rate throughout. I think the State should provide, when needed, appropriate illness support, based on taxes paid and cancer should absolutely be seen as a long-term illness with appropriate supports, especially in this case, breast cancer. I would like the Minister's thoughts on this and whether such a hybrid model could be looked at.”
“She is someone with a well-paid job. She studied and worked hard to get to the level she is at and she raises the valid point about helping those who have contributed over many years. She states: I'm currently off work, My employer paid me a percentage of my salary for eight months. I got back to work for six months and then I had to go out again. I have had five surgical procedures in four months, including one major surgery. I am getting €250 a week. My medicine costs €170 month, as one of my meds is high tech and not covered. I have a mortgage, car, etc. I paid the higher rate of tax, I would say, for over 20 years, if not more. I worked very hard throughout my career. I made significant contributions along the way. Unfortunately, my recovery hasn't been straightforward.”
“It is a bit of a patchwork that sees people who are contributing to the tax take hit hard at the very moment they are most vulnerable. I welcome statutory sick leave. It was a great first step but we need a new model, a bit like the pensions plan that was introduced. It has its critics but it is a model that could be replicated in this regard with a hybrid system where employers, employees and the State all contribute to a fair and sustainable sick pay structure that is to an extent based on income and replaces a realistic percentage of that income and protect affected low-, middle- and higher-income workers and recognise the decades of contributions they have made. I recently got a message from a constituent who is battling hard against breast cancer, which, as the Minister knows, affects one in seven women.”
“I concur with my colleagues about the ongoing Israeli atrocities in Gaza and their mistreatment of 14 Irish citizens. I would like to see the Minister do as much as she can on this. The issue I want to raise is that in Ireland right now, a worker can give 20 or 30 years of service, pay full PRSI, pay the higher rate of tax, contribute to the economy every single day and then the moment they face a serious illness, they are hit hard. After a handful of statutory sick pay days, they are pushed onto a flat-rate payment. That bears no connection to their original income or contributions or the financial responsibilities they have based on those ongoing contributions. It is a social protection system that is not fit for purpose.”
“NAMA made an extra €4 billion in terms of the paper assessment of the value of its assets at the time but a lot of income was left behind that could have been gained for the people.”
“We should have looked at the situation in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and, noting the trend was upwards, we should have said, "Let us hang on and let us realise more for the State, rather than trying to make a political point in advance of the election". If we are to learn from this experience, we must acknowledge that the agency's potential was not fully realised and that was because of politics rather than best practice. I hope we never again get into a scenario in which we are put under global pressure. If we have to create another NAMA in the future, we must look at it in a more strategic way and consider what outcomes to seek and whether we can change the system as we go along to realise the best outcome for the people of the country. We were sold short.”
“We could not afford to do what the Greeks did and, indeed, they lost out down the line in any event. The European Central Bank and our European Union partners were prepared to give us a dig out but not in a way that would put themselves into discomfort. We were forced into a situation in 2009 and 2010 where, if we did not make decisions that hurt people, it was going to hurt people a lot more. That is not a great position to be in. We still have the legacy of that, with nurses, gardaí and teachers on starting incomes that are a lot less than they should be. I have called for that pay restoration several times. That has not happened and then we wonder why there are recruitment issues. Coming back to the present, we could have had additional funds for the State if NAMA had been handled in a more assessable way.”
“I remember having a meeting two years before the 2011 general election and saying that it looked like we were all going to lose our seats. I asked what we were going to do and suggested that we should try to do what was best for the country, one way or the other. I know that every grouping in government at that time - and I pay tribute to the late Brian Lenihan - was trying to doing its best in the circumstances. The bank guarantee scheme, in hindsight, may not have been absolutely necessary. We do not know if some of the banks were systemic banks or not. All we know is that we could not have taken that risk. The former Deputy, Eamon Gilmore, said it was either Frankfurt's way or Labour's way but it turned out to be Frankfurt's way. The Troika came in and told us precisely what to do.”
“Some of those relationships were examined in tribunals and even if we did not get to the levels of outright corruption, there was a cosy consensus with developers and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in particular. That kind of consensus led to decisions that massively increased the value of land for certain developers and led to speculation. It got to the stage that by 2006, most of the State's revenues were coming through services. In the 2008 and 2009 period, we absolutely had global pressures and a global collapse. It was not, obviously, endemic to Ireland per se but the crash was made crashier because of previous Fianna Fáil policies in particular. I was in one of the Government parties at the time. We had some very serious decisions to make and we made them.”
“Experts who know a lot more than I do would argue that was the case and the evidence also suggests so. The ESRI, for example, in its 2019 analysis of post-crisis asset management said that a longer-term hold strategy would likely have produced higher net returns for the State, particularly in the residential and office sectors. None of this is to deny the challenges we faced, the pressure from Europe and the ECB or the constraints that NAMA operated under but we must learn from this. How far back do we go? If one wanted to be fair minded, one could argue that successive Fianna Fáil administrations made the boom boomier. The larger political parties at the time had a very close relationship with developers.”
“Those targets, to be clear, were shaped largely by the political and institutional environment of the time which rewarded early repayment and visible progress. I would argue that it was more on the political side because the Government of the day wanted to be able to say that it had made progress in advance of the 2016 election, even if that meant forgoing future gains. If one was looking at it from the perspective of what is in the best interests of the country rather than in the best interests of those going into the next election, one might have said we should wait a little bit longer. It is a fair question to ask whether the State could have earned more by holding assets for longer or by retaining the income-producing properties for rental yield.”
“While I acknowledge that everything is better in hindsight, we should be able to look at the bigger picture. In hindsight, they were sold at massively discounted prices. The Irish Times reported in 2016 that several major portfolios sold to international investment funds were subsequently resold at profits ranging from 30%, which is not half-bad when one thinks about it, to over 100% in some cases, often within a few years. The public accounts committee in its 2017 review noted that significant value uplift accrued to purchasers rather to the State. Basically, the State exited too early. We know that NAMA's mandate pushed it towards rapid de-leveraging rather than long-term value creation. The agency itself stated in its 2014 annual report that it was accelerating disposals to meet debt repayment targets.”
“It also did not necessarily help people who could have been dug out of a hole, individuals and small businesses, rather than the big entities which some of my colleagues have referenced. The fact that NAMA did not realise its potential is not just my opinion as a TD but is borne out by the market evidence and assessments of independent observers. Between 2013 and 2015, NAMA sold some of the largest loan portfolios in the history of the State. According to the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council, commercial property values in Dublin rose by over 70% between 2013 and 2018, while development land values in some areas more than doubled. Many of the assets that later benefited from that recovery had already been sold off by NAMA.”
“I will use some of my time to focus on that but first I acknowledge that we are dealing with the final narrow phase of NAMA's existence and the transfer of its remaining functions to other bodies. What is left are residual loans and I hope that where small people are impacted, they get a good shout. There is a whole load of outstanding legal cases and other stuff which, one could argue, does not require a stand-alone agency any more and all of the bureaucratic costs associated with it. On that point and purely on the specifics, the Bill before us makes sense. Transferring the remaining functions to the NTMA allows for a streamlined transition. However, it is important that we assess the NAMA legacy honestly. While it did make a paper return of €4 billion, it did not realise the full potential of the assets it was entrusted with managing.”
“First, I want to acknowledge, given the headline topic we are discussing, that NAMA played an important stabilising role at a moment of national crisis. I was there at the time and was involved in the Government that made the decisions. I saw the logic and supported its establishment at the time under the circumstances that were forced on people. However, it is also clear that NAMA's record is mixed, due to what were largely Government decisions. I acknowledge that NAMA had an independent mandate but it was given a mandate and terms of reference and because of that, there were opportunities that were not fully realised. Those broader questions deserve a fuller debate in their own right. I would love to talk for an hour on it and maybe we will get that chance some time.”
“There is scope for having up to 60 military personnel without any kind of requirement to go to the Dáil, but for larger scale operations we need a triple lock of sorts and it should be an 80% Dáil majority, a referendum or both.”
“Equally, from a geopolitical perspective, there is a huge risk from the likes of Russia in our economic zone in terms of undersea cables. The UN Security Council is not fit for purpose. I agree with the Government about that. I also note that the defence (amendment) Bill will require that any overseas operations would still be grounded in the principles of the UN Charter and international humanitarian law, even without a formal UN resolution. However, we cannot just have a double lock. We still need a triple lock. If the Government gets rid of the UN Security Council element because it is not fit for purpose, we will need an 80% Dáil resolution and-or the ability to hold a referendum in some situations.”