Toxic Banking in Ireland

SWEEPING POWERS HAVE BEEN given to the National Asset Management Agency in Ireland, allowing the agency to pay up to EUR 90 bn for badly-impaired property loans. This means the government of Ireland will become the biggest landlord in Europe and the cost for this questionable move will be passed along to young children and the unborn grandchildren living in Ireland. On a personal note, if assets of the property developer Liam Campion are sucked into NAMA, our housing estate will become one of the largest NAMA vacant shells in South Tipperary. More than half of the 104 homes in our estate sit vacant. All around Cashel where I live, bits of pasture like those at left sit idle, owned by developers who have over-stated their commercial value. Ten years ago, pesky problems like planning permission would have dissolved in a quick pub conversation accompanied by a brown envelope containing EUR 15,000 of a political donation. Those corrupt days are behind Ireland now, meaning real deceleration in the conversion of agricultural land to zoning for residences. Respecting Ireland for its litigious nature, I believe a new raft of court cases will emerge as developers, consortia, and partnerships petition for unsubordinated debt payments related to property deals. There is no way that NAMA can pre-empt the property or commercial rights of Irish citizens. Here's hoping the Minister for Finance has a multi-billion kitty set aside for legal costs because those Commercial and High Court cases will arise throughoug 2010 when NAMA tries to take the keys for sites, buildings and other assets.

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