THE GOVERNMENT will publish draft legislation setting up the National Asset Management Agency next week, following a final debate about its terms among Cabinet Ministers at its final meeting before the summer break.
Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan yesterday presented colleagues with a draft 200-page text which they will have a chance to consider before next Wednesday’s meeting, the Department of Finance said last night.
Ministers remained tight-lipped about its contents, although it is understood that the legislation outlines the overarching rules that will be employed in the valuation of properties taken from developers.
The draft text will be published on the Department of Finance website to allow time “for people to mull it over” during August before the Dáil and Seanad meets in mid-September to debate and pass it.
Striking a conciliatory tone last night, a spokesman for the department said the Minister was interested in hearing the amendments to be offered by Fine Gael, Labour and the other Opposition parties, and outside interests.
Furthermore, the spokesman emphasised that the Government would itself produce its own list of amendments to the legislation in late August or early September before the Oireachtas debates began.
Mr Lenihan said in Donegal this week that the establishment of Nama had been made “more urgent” by the decision of ACCBank, owned by Dutch Rabobank, to adopt a hard-line approach with struggling developers, such as Liam Carroll.
However, the production of the draft legislation has not been accelerated by the latest development, since Mr Lenihan had, on a number of occasions, said that he intended to have it ready by the end of this month.
Sources have insisted to The Irish Timesthat the Government has no intention of bringing the Oireachtas back before its scheduled mid-September recall to quicken the passage of the Nama legislation.
The decision of Rabobank to cut its exposure to Irish property loans has caused major concerns among Ministers, principally because it creates nervousness among Irish banks that are far more exposed to Irish property lending.
Already, developers Liam Carroll and the Cork-based John Fleming have been forced to seek court protection under examinership rules after ACC sought the repayment of multi-million euro loans.
