National Treasury Management Agency (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Second Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-20
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Cian O'Callaghan (SD), Dublin Bay North

Yes, it is absolutely related to the Bill. I raised it at pre-legislative scrutiny. I am putting in an amendment on Committee Stage of the Bill. The NTMA is managing ISIF funds. It has some of our public money in companies that are operating illegally in the occupied territories in the West Bank. I am referring here in the Dáil to some of the repercussions of that. A 14-year-old boy was killed at the school gates by Israeli settlers and yet our public money, managed by the NTMA with Government approval, is being used to fund companies operating illegally in contravention of international law in the West Bank. It is absolutely relevant to this Bill and the NTMA. I raised it previously in pre-legislative scrutiny. I am giving the Minister of State notice that I will be raising it on Committee Stage and tabling an amendment on this. It is absolutely unacceptable that Ireland is still investing in companies that are taking part in this illegal occupation, and doing that through the NTMA. This Bill is about transferring NAMA into the NTMA. The Irish taxpayers do not want their money invested in companies profiting from stolen Palestinian land. The NTMA must take immediate action to fully divest from all these companies without delay.
It appears that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil seem hell-bent on repeating the mistakes of the past. The handouts for property developers are back, the tax cuts for vulture funds are not going anywhere and property prices have gone far beyond their Celtic tiger peak. Lessons must be learned from NAMA. The market will not come to the rescue of the housing crisis. The State must take a leading role in affordable home building. Finally, apartments and houses should never be treated as speculative assets; they are homes.
Before I conclude, I want to talk about the pre-legislative scrutiny report that was done by the committee. It is relevant. Why was pre-legislative scrutiny brought in to the Oireachtas? It was brought in post the crash. It was one of the learnings from the crash to make our legislative process stronger. It is regrettable, in his opening remarks, that the Minister of State did not address the committee's recommendations. It is regrettable that six recommendations in the all-party report were not taken on board. In fact, the analysis done by the library and research service, in its excellent Bills digest, shows that the six recommendations were not properly taken on board and, in fact, four of them were not taken on board at all. Deputy Nash referenced them, but I will refer particularly to recommendations 5 and 6 of the committee. Recommendation 5 is that the Minister for Finance provides a table outlining the value of NAMA-managed properties at time of their sale, compared to their current or most recent valuation. That would provide important information in terms of the learnings from NAMA. The committee and the Oireachtas, but also the public, should be provided with that information. Recommendation 6, which is key, is that a report be commissioned detailing a constructive and critical examination of learnings from NAMA and how to best reflect those learnings in the future operations of the NTMA, the Land Development Agency and any other relevant bodies. These are good recommendations from the all-party committee. I urge the Minister of State to take them on board, either through amendments to the legislation or, as I would welcome, if there are other ways that he can provide that information without requiring amendments to the legislation.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-20/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:47+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-20