Irish govt party wants to change "bad bank" law

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's junior governing party, the Greens, want to amend the draft law setting up the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), a so-called "bad bank," to reduce the risk to taxpayers, the party's chairman was quoted as saying on Monday.

The government has published the draft establishing NAMA, in which it would take over up to 90 billion euros of risky property loans and associated assets from banks, and parliament is set to meet on September 16 to start discussing it.

"The legislation has been published in a consultative form in any case and the expectation is that there will be, and there have to be, changes," Green Party Chairman Dan Boyle was quoted as saying by several newspapers.

The Green Party, whose six deputies hold the balance of power in the lower chamber, is considering holding a convention on NAMA in early October, after the October 2 referendum on the European Union's Lisbon treaty, Boyle told the Irish Times.

The convention would also debate the outcome of separate talks with Prime Minister Brian Cowen's Fianna Fail party on the review of the government program, Boyle said.

In early October the NAMA legislation will be at a stage in parliament at which it can still be amended, Boyle added.

"The main concerns that the public have is that the exposure for the taxpayer is huge and there are legitimate questions about how the risk the taxpayer is being exposed to can be properly managed and shared," he said.

(Reporting by Andras Gergely; editing by Simon Jessop)