Daft Property - Irish Property News

Taxpayers are forking out more than €1 million per year on bills such as electricity, gas, security and insurance to keep the lights on at the unfinished €170 million Kilternan Hotel and Country Club in Co Dublin. Irish Nationwide, under former chief executive Michael Fingleton, lent publican Hugh O’Regan €170 million to develop the hotel, but he ran out of money before it was finished. The project went into receivership in 2009. The receiver’s reports show that, over a 12-month period, the unfinished and empty hotel cost €270,000 to insure, €80,000 in ESB bills, €85,000 in gas bills to heat and €155,000 on security. There was also €200,000 spent on consultants, a further €110,000 on legal fees and €71,000 in receiver fees. The company filings show that the firm behind the ill-fated development received more than €1 million from the state-owned Irish Nationwide during the period to meet these ongoing costs. Its sole revenue is €30,000 in rental income. The receiver to Dashaven ...

Taxpayer beware as Nama makes spectacular loss. Loss-making Nama has become a seemingly endless gravy train. Worse still, it has emerged as a bailout for some of the same developers who have brought this country to its knees... When it was announced by then Finance Minister Brian Lenihan during his emergency budget speech in April 2009, we were told it would get credit moving, we were promised it would not be a bailout for developers, we were told it wouldn't be a gravy train for advisers, consultants and public sector fat cats and we were told it would make a profit. Set up to save the country from the greed and recklessness of the banks and developers, including Liam Carroll, Bernard McNamara and Sean Dunne, Nama was an unprecedented development in Irish history. But, more than two years on from its inception, there is no question on all of these fronts: Nama has failed and failed spectacularly, and the taxpayer should be very concerned indeed. As last Thursday's an...

Banks tell families -- no loans for homes... Mortgage approval plummets by 90% as banks hoard bailout cash A RECOVERY in the property market is being stopped dead in its tracks by the banks, which are turning down at least half of all mortgage applications -- mostly from people who are highly creditworthy. With many experts now convinced that the market has gone below bottom, the difficulty in accessing credit for even high-quality applicants has reached crisis point. Banks are continuing to reject applications for credit and 2011 looks like posting the worst mortgage-origination figures in four decades. On Friday AIB, which is to merge with Educational Building Society, won conditional approval from the European Commission for yet another capital injection -- this time of up to €13.1bn. It is part of more than €19bn that was approved after the latest bank stress tests and comes on top of billions in taxpayers' money that has already been pumped into the banking sector bu...

Noonan spells out high cost of our rescue... THE IMF and EU will make a €9bn profit over the lifetime of the bailout loans to Ireland. Finance Minister Michael Noonan last night revealed for the first time just how much the international agencies will make if the €85bn in loans are drawn down in total. The British government is also entitled to send auditors and accountants here to check the books as part of its bilateral deal to Ireland, the Irish Independent has learned. It is also insisting that if Ireland ever leaves the euro the UK must be repaid in full and in sterling -- and not in any new Irish currency. The developments come as the IMF-EU bailout team arrives back in Dublin today to begin the latest examination on whether the Government is meeting the terms of the €85bn programme of aid. The progress of public sector reform and changes to wage-setting systems for low earners will be discussed in talks with IMF-EU bailout team. And it also appears likely the Gover...