TAOISEACH ENDA Kenny has expressed concern that some developers may be trying to buy back assets previously taken over from the National Asset Management Agency.
At a news conference after his address to the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly in Cork yesterday, Mr Kenny was asked if he felt Nama was moving property prematurely on to the market. “No, we’re very anxious that property would be moved on to the market as quickly as possible,” he replied. “I am concerned about some reports that those who have had assets acquired from them and put into Nama have been making attempts to acquire them by a variety of methods.
“I intend to meet with the Minister for Finance who will be discussing these matters with Nama in due course and obviously the members of the British-Irish assembly here will have an opportunity to interact with the [Nama] chairman Frank Daly about their future proposals to move property onto the market.”
Asked if he was suggesting that people whose property had gone into Nama were endeavouring to buy it back at a reduced price, Mr Kenny said: “I have had some indications of attempts to acquire property that was taken from, or that was acquired from developers through a variety of methods and I hope that Nama are on top of that and that where Nama have acquired assets like that, that they don’t find their way back to where they were acquired from in the first place.
“We are somewhat concerned about the movement of property on to the market, because a floor, apparently, hasn’t been reached in all sectors yet,” he added.
In a question-and-answer session, Stormont Assembly member Jim Wells of the DUP said: “Nama has profound implications for Northern Ireland, as well as the Irish Republic in the sense that a large number of the debts are held by companies operating on the northern side of the Border.
“We feel a bit aggrieved that we weren’t given a seat on the board of Nama to have some direct input into how something that had a profound impact on our economy was being rolled out.”
British-Irish body: Kerr reaction
THE PLENARY session of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly unanimously condemned the car-bomb attack near Omagh, Co Tyrone, last April in which Constable Ronan Kerr (25) was killed.
The gathering of parliamentarians from both sides of the Irish Sea, meeting in Cork, agreed that “those responsible for this cowardly atrocity have no mandate to act in the name of the people of Ireland”.
