Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has said his party will be voting against the National Asset Management Agency when it comes before the Dáil next month.
Read the draft legislation
Speaking at the Humbert Summer School in Co Mayo, Deputy Kenny said the Government had refused to consider any alternative to its bad bank solution and described it as a €90bn 'double or quits gamble' with taxpayers' money.
It is the first time the Fine Gael leader confirmed that his party will vote against NAMA, which he called a 'sweetheart deal for the banks'.
However, the Taoiseach said there will be no change to the fundamental thrust of the Government’s proposals on the National Asset Management Agency.
Brian Cowen said the draft proposals setting up NAMA were complex and that he wanted a strong debate on the issues surrounding it, but that the direction being taken by the Government remains the same.
Mr Kenny described NAMA as a gamble by Fianna Fáil on the property market and said it was fundamentally 'unfair' and 'unwise', because it transfers responsibility for dealing with toxic loans from the banks who made them and the investors who funded them to the Irish taxpayer.
The party leader also criticised the McCarthy report's recommendation to cut the number of local authorities from 34 to 22, saying it was 'misguided' and undermined local democracy.
Labour's Deputy Leader Joan Burton told the conference that the nationalisation of the banks remained the safest policy for dealing with the crisis.
However, Fianna Fáil Minister of State Dara Calleary insisted that NAMA was the best way of tackling the current problems and he believed the Government would win any Dáil vote.
Meanwhile, the Green Party convention to debate the setting up of NAMA is likely to be held in early September.
A party spokesman confirmed that it had received the necessary five requests from local Green Party groups to hold such a meeting.
The matter will now be considered by the National Executive Committee which will decide and exact time and venue.
