The chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service, Michael Ahearn, told the committee that the Department of Finance advised it that it 'might not be fruitful' to discuss the creation of NAMA today.
The Department said that many decisions about the new asset management agency have yet to be made and that legislation was at an early stage of development.
UCD Professor Karl Whelan told the committee that he is extremely concerned that we are heading into NAMA without full diagnosis of the scale of the problem.
The Professor said he sees no evidence that the Government has accepted the scale of the problems the country is facing.
TCD Professor Patrick Honahan told the committee that the proposed scale of NAMA is unprecedented on a worldwide scale. He said the risk of overpaying and valuing the loans it will purchase will be 'tricky' as the banks concerned are not nationalised or in liquidation.
Professor Honahan said he was 'not surprised' at a calculation from the International Monetary Fund that €24 billion could be required to tackle Ireland's banking problems.
He earlier called for a recapitalisation of the banks this year and said this must be done 'thoroughly'. 'The alternative do nothing approach leads to zombie banks, an underperforming economy and higher costs to the taxpayer in the end', he stated.
