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'C&AG must look at NAMA plan'

NAMA business plan - €5 billion profit figure questioned
NAMA business plan - €5 billion profit figure questioned

The Government has said the debate on the committee stage of the National Asset Management Agency Bill will take place on Wednesday and Thursday next week in the Dáil chamber.

It will continue for four days the following week when the Dáil itself is on a mid-term break.

While each member will be entitled to speak, only the members of the Finance Committee will vote on the large number of amendments expected to be tabled by the Government and opposition.

Earlier, opposition deputies have called for the Comptroller and Auditor General to examine the draft business plan for NAMA, circulated last night

Emma McNamara looks at the details

Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Fein also called for the entire Dáil to be allowed to take part in the committee stage of the bill.

The order of business was dominated by opposition complaints about the draft business plan which they claimed was tabled five minutes before last night's vote on the agency.

Fine Gael's Richard Bruton and Labour's Joan Burton asked for the state spending watchdog the C&AG to assess the document's viability. They also questioned the status of the document, with Sinn Fein's Arthur Morgan asking whether it was a Fianna Fáil or Department of Finance plan.

Earlier, opposition parties poured scorn on the plan's predictions that NAMA would make a €5 billion profit in ten years. Speaking on Morning Ireland, the Fine Gael spokesman on finance, Richard Bruton, said the assertion that €30 billion would be secured in six years still exposed the taxpayer to risk.