National Treasury Management Agency (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Second Stage Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-02 ============================================================ Joe O'Reilly (FG), Labour Panel I join in Senator Casey's recognition of the patriotism of the former Minister, Brian Lenihan, God rest him, who died so young. It was so sad that he passed away as such a young man. Undoubtedly, the stresses he operated under could not have been a help to him. His patriotism is unquestionable and I am very happy to associate myself with the remarks. I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the National Treasury Management Agency (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026 and I am pleased to support the Bill on Second Stage. It represents an important milestone in Ireland's economic recovery. NAMA was established during one of the most difficult periods in our country's history. It had a clear objective to stabilise the banking system, recover value for the taxpayer and help to restore confidence in the Irish economy following the financial crisis. I recognise the achievement in this context of €5.6 billion for the taxpayer and I agree with the Minister of State's summation of the success of NAMA as an institution. The return to the taxpayer is significant. More than 15 years later, we are now in a position where the Government believes NAMA has fulfilled its purpose and its remaining function can be transferred to the National Treasury Management Agency. This is a positive reflection on how far Ireland has come since the exceptionally challenging years. However, it is also right that Members in the House ask questions about how the transition will take place. NAMA manages assets of enormous value on behalf of the State and as its functions are transferred to the NTMA, we must ensure there is complete transparency, proper accountability and continued protection of the public interest. Confidence in our public institutions depends not only on achieving results but also on maintaining public trust throughout. Housing is a very important issue and the Minister of State cited the achievements of NAMA in this context. I ask the Minister of State specifically whether the remaining assets and loans that will go to the National Treasury Management Agency could be targeted, whereby acquired moneys could go to affordable housing and social housing and could be targeted in this area. This is something the public would reasonably want to see happen and I am interested in this. I know a lot of the loans and bad debt have been dealt with but a residual amount of money is going over and I would like to know whether it can be targeted. Housing remains an important issue. While NAMA's purpose was financial stability rather than housing policy, many of the assets involved development land and development sites. Ireland today continues to face an acute housing shortage and young people are very concerned. As someone representing Cavan I see this in all of our towns and villages. We have too many people commuting because they come down the country to get affordable housing and then commute back to Dublin. This is very challenging in terms of quality of life. I welcome the transfer of NAMA's remaining responsibilities to the NTMA. I hope that any remaining land and development opportunities continue to be managed with the wider public interest in mind, particularly where they can contribute housing delivery, as I have just said. Overall I believe the Bill provides a sensible framework for bringing the work of NAMA to a close while ensuring continuity through the NTMA. At the same time, we should recognise that the end of one chapter also presents an opportunity to focus on the challenges that remain. As I have said, my sole concern is with regard to affordable and social housing being developed insofar as we can do so. This focus needs to continue through the NTMA. I welcome the Bill and it is good that we are at this point. I recognise the achievement of NAMA and I hope we are embarking on a completely new chapter now, particularly for our young people who aspire to a bright future. There are also many young people abroad whom we want to attract back to our country. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-02/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:09+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-02