SEANAD REPORT:IT WAS a very serious matter that the Oireachtas had been misled by the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance on the issue of the projected €54 billion National Asset Management Agency, Eugene Regan (FG) said.

What had happened had been summed up in the headline, “Nowhere for Cowen to hide on IMF advice on Nama” in yesterday’s edition of The Irish Times.

An attempt by Fine Gael to get a debate on “recent revelations about Nama” was defeated on a vote.

Fine Gael Seanad leader Frances Fitzgerald said Nama had been presented as a mechanism that would get credit flowing. But it been learned recently that at the time the Government was contending this, it was receiving advice from the IMF that establishing Nama would not lead to a significant increase in lending by the banks.

The Minister for Finance should come to the chamber and explain this discrepancy.

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The Minister for Communications should draw up protocols to prevent Joe Duffy, Marian Finucane, Charlie Bird or Miriam O’Callaghan from running for the Dáil on the basis of their high profiles in television, Terry Leyden (FF) maintained. The TV licence fee raised €195 million a year.

He hoped that Labour senator Alex White had taken leave of absence from RTÉ because he would be a candidate in the Dublin South byelection.

“That is outrageous. It is 16 years since I was an employee of RTÉ,” Senator White said.

Mr Leyden said he also wanted to nominate Fine Gael TD Olivia Mitchell for an Oscar “because Meryl Streep has withdrawn”. Cathaoirleach Pat Moylan interjected: “That is totally wrong – nominating anyone for an Oscar. Serious questions should be put to the Leader.”

Mr Leyden said it was very serious when politics was hijacked by a high-profile RTÉ employee.