National Treasury Management Agency (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Second Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-20
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Robert Troy (FF), Longford-Westmeath

I thank all the Members for their contributions. I will endeavour to reply to all the points that were raised. I will do it just to myself and the Leas-Cheann Comhairle by the looks of things, but the Leas-Cheann Comhairle did contribute. I say that somewhat in jest because I acknowledge that many Deputies are tuned in in their offices and that not everyone can sit in the Dáil for hours at a time.
The question "why now?" has been asked a number of times. The reason is that NAMA and the IBRC special liquidators have now substantially completed their mandates and are reaching the final stage of their life cycle. That is why the Bill is being proposed at this stage. I acknowledge that although many people have been critical in some of their commentary today, no one has indicated outright that they will vote against the legislation. Certainly, the three main Opposition parties have indicated their support for it.
As I mentioned earlier, it is appropriate that any remaining matters - particularly litigation - are managed within a streamlined structure. The Bill provides a practical approach to achieving this, while ensuring continuity and legal certainty for all parties and preserving existing rights and obligations. The NTMA is well placed to take on this role. The residual activity it is taking on will be ring-fenced within the NTMA. It has the governance, expertise and experience required to manage complex financial and legal matters to completion, while avoiding the cost and duplication of maintaining separate structures which are no longer required, given the reduced scale of the remaining activity.
It is worth going back to look at the mandate that was set for NAMA, which was to get the best return achievable for the State. NAMA began by de-leveraging its overseas portfolio in 2012, where the recovery was stronger. Then, in Ireland, as recovery began to take hold, it de-leveraged more domestically and debtors were in a position to refinance. It is worth noting, as was referenced by a number of contributors, that an independent report by Professor FitzGerald found that NAMA was broadly successful and the Comptroller and Auditor General last week reported that NAMA achieved higher returns than originally projected. Had NAMA sat on assets indefinitely, other charges would have been made, with people asking why NAMA was not trying to realise and pay back the money the State had invested.
NAMA was established with a specific mandate. It made a significant social and economic contribution. It achieved a €5.6 billion surplus. It supported the delivery of more than 45,500 houses, contributed to Dublin Docklands regeneration and a number of houses and lands were transferred to the Land Development Agency, which will contribute to the delivery of further houses in the years ahead.
Some contributors asked about pre-legislative scrutiny. I understand the Tánaiste has written to the Chair of the joint committee on finance to respond comprehensively. If any of the Deputies on that committee did not get the response, we will be happy to ensure they do. The Department of Finance will continue the oversight and governance throughout the final drawdown and completion.
A number of people mentioned the number of staff. Eight staff will work in the resolution unit to work through the remaining matters. This will not include the current CEO, who is an NTMA employee. He was always an NTMA employee and will return to the NTMA on an individual contract.
Deputy O'Callaghan mentioned ISIF investments. The residual activity from NAMA and the IBRC is ringfenced in the NTMA and will not be part of the broader NTMA portfolio. Deputy Healy-Rae will be pleased to note that the Bill does not contain any provisions relating to staff, including terms and conditions. Staff who were assigned to NAMA were originally employed by the NTMA and, therefore, there is no legislative transfer of staff.
PTSB was raised. One of the Government's objectives in regard to PTSB was to maximise the value achieved from the sale to recover taxpayer funds and deploy these to more productive purposes. The BAWAG has confirmed it will operate PTSB as a bank with long-term and clear objectives and this is an opportunity to present a credible challenger to AIB and Bank of Ireland. Its plan is to maintain a meaningful branch footprint. A number of Deputies referred to the importance of having competition in the banking sector, which is a consideration for the Minister for Finance.
I cannot comment on individual cases as that would not be right or proper. I do not have knowledge of individual cases Deputies have raised but I can confirm that there will be full continuity. Nobody will be prejudiced by the transfer of activities. The NTMA is simply stepping into the role of NAMA. Everybody's rights will be preserved, and equally everybody's obligations will also be preserved.
On the query from Deputy McGuinness, I will undertake to follow up with officials and respond to him directly. A number of Deputies spoke about funds and the funds industry, and portrayed funds as something negative to be investing in in this country. As Minister with responsibility for financial services, I know first hand the importance of the funds industry to this country. The funds industry is very much a pillar of the financial services sector of our economy through funds administration, asset management, risk and compliance and legal and financial advisories. It provides 19,500 and 35,500 direct and indirect jobs. It is contributing approximately a billion euro per annum in taxation to our economy. Of those jobs, 46% are outside the capital. When people speak about funds, they portray them in a very negative way which is not a true or fair reflection of the facts.
In terms of the need for housing, we know we need to spend, on average, €20 billion per annum to ensure that we construct the number of houses that are needed on an annual basis to ensure we bring house prices down to an affordable level, we increase supply to meet demand and we ensure rents fall to a more affordable level. One of the critical components of that is to ensure that international and private funds provide investment. It may sound as if we are playing to a certain audience but that is an appropriate way to characterise funds.
The Bill represents a significant step in the State's post-crisis normalisation. It acknowledges the substantial work carried out by NAMA and the special liquidators of the IBRC and provides a clear and efficient structure to bring remaining matters to a conclusion and completion. I commend the Bill to the House.

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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