Daft Property - Irish Property News

Nama is rescue plan for the elite... Do you remember back in school how the smart lads in the top class looked down their noses at the other lads in the streams below them? I have distinct memories of the fellas in the top stream at my school, many of whom went on to be doctors and lawyers - and who are now at the top of their professions, having a lofty view of their own abilities. Why wouldn’t they? They were mainly decent enough fellas, and they were lucky because the entire Leaving Cert system was designed to bolster their egos, tell them how clever they were and usher them on a professional southside Dublin path to prosperity. They were very much the type of lads that the system was designed to foster and produce - the six straightA merchants. After school, they flew through college and joined big accountancy or law firms, while the doctors went to the US to work like dogs, climbing up the greasy medical pole. They all sought the financial nirvana of a consultant’s position back h...

A group of 46 economists has signed an article in today’s Irish Times calling on the Government to reconsider the National Asset Management (Nama) project. They argue that Nama should pay the banks only the current market value for the loans it will assume. In response, economist Alan Ahearne, special adviser to Minster for Finance Brian Lenihan, said last night that a number of claims in the article were incorrect. He added that most of the economists in the country had not signed the article drafted by Prof Brian Lucey of Trinity College. Prof Lucey said he had contacted about 250 lecturers in economics and not one had come back to say they disagreed with the views expressed in his draft. He said a number did not sign because they did not want to get involved in a round-robin exercise. In the article, the economists say the Government will pay significantly above market value for the bad loans advanced by the banks. “The key difficulty facing the Government is that to pay prices now ...

Carroll's property empire crumbles... Fears of new turmoil in the market if banks move in... DEVELOPER Liam Carroll last night lost the battle to protect his multi-billion euro empire, raising fears the property market will be plunged into further turmoil. The Supreme Court rejected his survival plan -- saying it was neither credible nor viable. A number of banks are today expected to begin the process of picking over the bones of his companies, with a view to recouping a fraction of their losses. They will be led this morning by ACC Bank, who may seek to wind up his companies, appoint a liquidator or receivers. The tycoon's Zoe Group of companies is laden down with bank debts of more than €1.2bn -- and a fire sale of his assets could undermine the Government's NAMA plan to remove €90bn of toxic development loans from bank balance books. However, it is unlikely that there will be an immediate rush to sell off assets when there is no demand for in the current climate. Declan...

Nama turns us into a nation of speculators... OPINION: Builders and developers have finally managed to shape the country in their own image... THE DRAFT National Asset Management Agency (Nama) legislation runs to 136 pages, so it’s not too surprising that most people have missed the interesting section 201. It reads as follows: 201.1: Henceforth, all male children shall be called Seán, Seánie, Paddy, Mick, Tom, Joe, Gerry, Liam or Bernard. All female children shall be christened Seona, Patricia, Michaela, Tomasina, Josephine, Geraldine, Wilma or Bernadine and shall be referred to de facto as Seán, Seánie, Paddy, Mick, Tom, Joe, Gerry, Liam or Bernard. 201.2: From the coming into force of this legislation, all citizens shall be required to receive a daily dosage of testosterone and cocaine to induce feelings of competitive aggression and megalomaniacal omnipotence. 201.3: All male citizens shall wear a pink shirt as a declaration that said citizen is so macho that he can wear pink and n...

Building a case for survival without a solid foundation... IN a certain fairytale, a vain emperor struts through the streets showing off his "new clothes". The adoring crowd applauds the naked emperor until a small child cries out: "But he has nothing on!" Yesterday, Judge Peter Kelly, head of the Commercial Court, gave short shrift to developer Liam Carroll's "fanciful" scheme to turn a €1bn-plus loss into a €300m profit in three years. Liam Carroll, a reclusive director of 203 companies, is the developer least likely to exhibit any degree of vanity. But he is naked. He is broke. His companies are insolvent. Not only insolvent, but so interconnected in a "byzantine" corporate structure that if one company falls, the empire does too. Carroll knows this. The Government knows this. Carroll's benign lenders, who are rolling up his interest with "great forbearance", know this. These are the same banks, incidentally, who are hammerin...