Daft Property - Irish Property News

A momentous year which went from bad to worse... Siobhan Creaton uses the alphabet to summarise the main events of what proved to be a tumultuous year for Ireland A The nightmare that is Anglo Irish Bank continued in 2010 when its staggering €35bn of bad loans finally bankrupted the country. Some of the bank's top brass were arrested and questioned by gardai, and the Director for Public Prosecutions will decide next year whether they will face charges for their recklessness. Sean FitzPatrick did suffer the humiliation of being made bankrupt while his protege David Drumm filed for bankruptcy in the US where he may fare better in the long run. For many months politicians dithered and differed over how to solve the Anglo problem before finally agreeing to wind it down. So in 2011 Anglo Irish Bank will disappear forever but Irish taxpayers will be paying for its failure for many years to come. B 2010 will go down in history as the year when Ireland agreed to take an €85bn bailout from

Thousands of horses and ponies abandoned in Irish countryside as financial crisis bites... Tens of thousands of horses and ponies are believed to have been abandoned in the Irish countryside as families struggle to cope with the financial meltdown. Animal welfare inspectors have had to shoot some of the worst affected animals left badly weakened by exposure, starvation, sickness and injury. With costs of feeding or keeping the horses in stables running to £26 per day, generations who have kept horses as a passion have no longer been able to afford to keep them. Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen has pledged £12.8billion in spending cuts and tax increases over the next four years. The austerity measures are expected to lead to a 10 per cent cut in the disposable income of Ireland's middle class, and worse for those on lower incomes, leaving them without the funds to care for domestic pets. Irish law requires owners to have animals registered and microchipped, but it is not rigidly enf

It's a scandal, we're still being screwed to pay bankers their bonuses... This must be the final insult. In three days' time, Brian Lenihan's Budget will take a big chunk of money from every taxpayer in the country to bail out our failed banks. Now we discover that those same banks have already been using public cash to pay their staff handsome bonuses and salary increases that will ensure they escape the worst of the pain. Needless to say, this information has not been exactly been freely volunteered by the banks themselves. In fact, it has only emerged because the backbench Fianna Fail TD Chris Andrews put down a written Dail question on the issue last Wednesday. A new opinion poll suggests that as few as 16 FF TDs could be returned in the coming general election -- but Andrews' willingness to confront his own Government's policies suggests that if there's any justice, he will be one of them. The evidence is clear. Over the last two years, most workers hav

Ireland's Problems Have Euro Zone Worried... The PIIGS are not out of the woods yet. Ireland's ongoing economic woes have financial markets concerned that the country might need an EU bailout. A new round of austerity measures could trigger a downward spiral. Sean FitzPatrick, 62, couldn't help smirking when he appeared before the judges of the High Court in Dublin last Wednesday. FitzPatrick, who is Ireland's most famous banker, had already declared personal bankruptcy last summer, after accumulating €145 million ($195 million) in debt. His monthly income is currently €188, FitzPatrick's legal counsel informed the court. But he will only be a poor man if his wife Catriona leaves him. The six houses and the rights to a retirement fund which is worth millions belong in part to her, and cannot simply be seized by creditors. FitzPatrick owes the largest sum to the Anglo Irish Bank, where he served as chairman until late 2008. "The bank granted him and his relative

When property prices in a leafy corner of Dublin 4 hit world-record heights, the signs were all there for catastrophe... Four years ago, property editors of leading international newspapers just could not believe what they were hearing. Homes on Shrewsbury and Ailesbury roads in the Dublin suburb of Ballsbridge, which had long set the record as Ireland's most expensive, were reaching new peaks, rivalling some of the most expensive properties in Manhattan or Paris. Prices of a country's most expensive residential properties are a useful early indicator for economies facing economic trouble. Prices of top-end Irish properties at their peak were signalling that the Irish economy was heading for a crash, because residences on Ailesbury and Shrewsbury roads were not only the priciest in Ireland, but were also arguably the most expensive in the world. In 2006, high-end properties, selling for an equivalent €4,450 per square foot, in a London economy fuelled by bankers' multi-mill

New 21st-Century Monopoly edition missed a few tricks... Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect €200. We've all had the sinking feeling of picking up a card and reading those words. These days, however, it's also a fair summary of what most of the country would like to say to the politicians, bankers and developers who've landed us in such a mess. Radical The Irish edition of Monopoly has just been given a radical makeover for the 21st century -- but even so, it's hard not to feel that they've missed a few tricks. When Monopoly first appeared in shops exactly 75 years ago, America was in the middle of the Great Depression. Charles Darrow, the man who launched it, had lost his job in the Wall Street Crash and thought that people might enjoy the escapism of a game that allowed people to become property tycoons. He was as astonished as anyone else when it made him a real-life millionaire. In modern Ireland, things are a little bit different. We still like

Irish emigration soars as Celtic Tiger’s cubs hunt for jobs... The number of people leaving the Republic has swelled far beyond those of every other country in the European Union, says research. An estimated 40,000 people emigrated last year, according to the EU's statistics office, Eurostat, a rate almost twice as high as that of Lithuania, the next most affected country. It is expected the flow may worsen as the Republic faces years of severe financial difficulties. A research institute has warned that 200,000 people, in a country of 4.5 million, may be forced to emigrate by 2015 if job opportunities do not improve. The unprecedented prosperity of the so-called Celtic Tiger years seemed to have consigned emigration to the history books. Its reappearance is regarded with dismay. Some of those leaving are thought to be immigrants who came to Ireland in large numbers from mainland Europe over the last decade and who, unable to find jobs, are returning home. But a large proportion a

THE Government has been accused of presiding over a graduate "brain drain". Unemployment among graduates has almost trebled in the past two years, and student leaders say more and more college leavers are being forced to quit the country. Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures reveal there were 68,600 unemployed graduates in March, compared with 25,400 at the same time in 2008. The jobs problem is greater for males, who account for 60pc of out-of-work graduates, up from 56pc two years ago. The Economic and Social Research Institute recently warned that 200,000 people may be forced to emigrate between now and 2015 if unemployment is not addressed. And the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) says many of these will be highly skilled graduates. USI president Gary Redmond said it was ironic the Jeanie Johnston famine ship was docked in Dublin's IFSC, the area that was once the heart of Ireland's Celtic Tiger economy. USI members are planning a protest at the ship today to

Junkies and empty spaces litter streets where a dream died... The ill-fated Northern Quarter would have transformed our capital city: A mid-afternoon stroll around the place that would have been known as the Northern Quarter shows, emerging from the cracks, what we have come to expect in these days of broken dreams. There are junkies everywhere, in the numerous alleyways and on street corners, cravenly going about their business; there are the usual scatterings of beggars too, wrapped up quietly within themselves. In unequal measure, then, it is an uneasy landscape, both edgy and pathetic. People walk past, eyes in the distance, without taking notice -- or so it seems -- hurrying for trains, cars, buses, and bicycles, any mode at all out of the city and home. I was once familiar, indeed, with this area, before moving office in 2004, shortly after the arrival of the Luas -- a shining symbol of the new and of renewal, if ever there was one, at a time of optimism not that long ago. These

Caging Tiger-think key to Ireland's economic revival... OPINION : Stimulus and mass job creation is a must as we leave behind crazy, jargon-filled days of boom and pursue a more concrete reality THREE YEARS ago, it seemed Ireland was doing very nicely. And then suddenly it all changed. Our lifestyles were threatened; our wealth and dreams shattered. People had to try somehow to understand and come to grips with the frightening new reality of a rapidly deteriorating economy and a property market about to crash. Jules Henri Poincare wrote: “To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity for reflection.” We have spent a lot of time since, necessarily so, reflecting on a continuous flow of appalling information about banks, developers, Nama, frozen credit, failing businesses, negative equity and a collapsing economy, accumulating in an astonishing and calamitous increase in unemployment. But unlike WC Fields’ comment

McNamara, FitzPatrick facing bankruptcy 'in weeks'... TWO of the Celtic Tiger's highest fliers -- developer Bernard McNamara and banker Sean FitzPatrick -- face bankruptcy within weeks. The Irish Independent has learned that Mr McNamara, once worth almost €240m, is facing a fresh attempt by a group of private investors to force him into bankruptcy. The group is pursuing up to 40 properties owned by the Clare-born builder, records show. Meanwhile, Anglo Irish Bank will veto any plans by FitzPatrick -- who owes the bank €110m -- to reach a private deal with his creditors. Both men are now facing the real prospect of having all their assets, including their family homes, seized and sold off. Pursued Bankruptcy in Ireland lasts for 12 years, with those declared bankrupt facing travel restrictions, curbs on their ability to borrow money and/or run a business. Mr McNamara is already being pursued by investors arising from the disastrous Glass Bottle site investment. But now a sec

The victims of Ireland's economic collapse... Ireland was hailed during the boom years as a 'celtic tiger'. But now the government has had to introduce huge cuts to deal with its budget deficit. How is it affecting ordinary people? When Ann Moore returned to have breakfast with her family after a 12-hour night shift at a nursing home, she found riot police and bailiffs outside her home of 16 years. She and her husband, Christy, and their three children were being evicted. Despite climbing a ladder to the top of the house for six hours in a desperate attempt to thwart the bailiffs, the distressed care worker was eventually coaxed down and taken to hospital. Her home in the southern suburbs of Dublin was promptly boarded up. The Moores were badly in arrears, owing the council €10,000. For eight months, Ann had been paying back €50 on top of her €100 weekly rent. But in a country where 300,000 homes lie empty, the authorities decided to make the Moores homeless and punish them

Developers’ castles may be built of sand as flood of debt rises... And what of builders and property developers? There’s no doubt that these Celtic Tiger characters have taken a serious hit to their fortunes. It may have completely wiped out large chunks of their wealth. We suspect that many are just treading water, but we really don’t know exactly how bad it is. Firstly, we don’t know how much they have borrowed and how bad their land and assets are worth. Development land in some parts of Ireland may have fallen by 95 per cent in value. This means that the banks — or rather Nama — owns it. Crucially, we don’t know the level of personal guarantees given by the developers. If they have put everything on the line for a loan, they are toast. If not, they may still retain some shattered vestige of their former wealth. How the likes of developer Johnny Ronan can blow €60,000 on a holiday in Morocco we honestly cannot imagine. But he must have made serious money in the good times — and one