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"We say No to NAMA" - Sinn Féin
31.08.09
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INISHOWEN councillor,
Pádraig MacLochlainn and his party has called for a
referendum on NAMA the same day people go to the
polls on Lisbon II.
The Buncrana-based councillor said the
implementation of the NAMA 'bad bank' would have
ramifications "not just for this generation but for
future generations of Irish people". He said if it
went ahead, the NAMA process would be "the crime of
the century" and a "Government led free-for-all for
developers and banks".
Cllr MacLochlainn revealed that Sinn Féin is to
undertake a public action campaign across the state,
including Donegal, as well as opposing the NAMA
legislation in the Dáil. Sinn Féin claimed that the
Government was relying on people not understanding
the complex NAMA proposal in order for it to be
passed. Sinn Féin has listed nine reasons to say No
to NAMA and called on the public to support the
campaign. |
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“The Government is
claiming that NAMA is the only option to deal with
the banking problem. This is not true and the
proposal itself is so inherently flawed and
potentially corruptible that I believe NAMA could be
the subject of the next decade’s tribunals," |
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said Cllr MacLochlainn.
“The Government is hoping people will not understand
this complex legislation. If people really knew what
this was all about, they would be sitting outside
their local Fianna Fáil and Green Party TDs’ offices
and demanding they don’t support the Bill. The cuts
and tax-raising measures to date have been severe,
but they are nothing compared to what will be needed
to pay for NAMA.
“We believe there are nine reasons to say No to Nama
and we are calling on people to join us in our
campaign.
SF's nine reasons to say No to NAMA:
1. Economists have estimated NAMA will cost each
man, woman and child in this state €15,000 (€60-€70
billion). That’s a lot of hospitals, schools, jobs
and public infrastructure.
2. The Government has done nothing to help families
and businesses facing repossession, negative equity
and economic hardship. They still have to pay their
bills and it is raising taxes and cutting public
spending to pay for the mess they, the banks and
developers have made.
3. NAMA will pay more for developers’ loans than
they are worth and let them pay them back at their
leisure.
4. The Bill relies on banks to act in good faith
when giving the taxpayer information about the bad
loans.
5. The loans these developers were given helped to
drive up house prices, so we’re being made to pay
twice.
6. NAMA will be able to give taxpayers’ money to
developers to finish projects and even force a
purchase on land in the way of developments.
7. The Minister for Finance will have the power to
overturn independent valuation of developers’ loans
made by NAMA and pay them more.
8. There is no guarantee that the banks will start
lending even after NAMA clears their bank sheets.
9. It will cost money to sort out the banks and the
bad loans, but nationalisation would allow us to
deal with the developers, kick out poor management,
get banks lending again, protect homeowners and
businesses and entail the least pain for the
taxpayer. |
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