The leader of the State's largest trade union said the publication of the legislation on the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) is designed to "socialise" debts "recklessly" accumulated by top bankers and developers.
Siptu general president Jack O'Connor said: "The Nama Bill has left us little wiser as to the true cost of this deeply flawed and potentially very expensive project.
"The only certainty is that the legislation is designed to socialise the debts recklessly accumulated by those at the top of our banking system acting in conjunction with profit-crazed developers. This is deeply ironic given that struggling mortgage holders have only a weak and voluntary code of conduct to protect them from the banks and stave off repossession of their homes for a limited period of time."
Mr O'Connor echoed concerns raised by Fine Gael and Labour that there was no information in the Bill on how the pricing mechanism for acquiring so-called 'toxic assets' would operate.
"Rather than paying an accurate market price and recapitalising the bank’s balance sheet by taking a controlling share for the taxpayer, the Government seems intent on gifting the money to the banks, bolstering their capital ratios with little or no guarantee that we will see any improvement in the availability of badly needed credit to the wider economy."
He said that, ultimately, public confidence in Nama hinged on "the degree of transparency and the mechanisms for oversight that are put in place".
An appearance by Nama before an Oireachtas committee once a year would "do little to reassure taxpayers".