A PROPERTY development loan taken out by the former government minister Michael Lowry in 2006 is now with the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).
The loan, given to Mr Lowry by the former chief executive of the Irish Nationwide Building Society, Michael Fingleton, was used to buy approximately 11 acres of land in Gortnahoo, near Two-Mile Borris, in Co Tipperary. Mr Lowry intended to build houses on at least part of the land.
Earlier this week, in the course of a lengthy interview with The Irish Times, Mr Lowry said the loan was not in Nama, but then later said that all his dealings in relation to the loan were with the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), into which the former Irish Nationwide has now been subsumed.
Contacted late yesterday, he said all he knew was that his dealings in relation to the loan had always been with IBRC and that he had never had any dealings with Nama. He said the loan was his only development loan, was now down to under €300,000 and was manageable.
Banking sources said persons whose loans were transferred to Nama were usually informed that this was the case. They also said that almost all of the property development loans on the books of the Irish Nationwide had been transferred to Nama, irrespective of their size.
For all but the largest of loans, however, the customer continued to deal directly with IBRC, rather than Nama, the sources said.
Mr Lowry would not say how big the loan he took out in 2006 was, but said it was not €600,000 as had been reported in a Sunday newspaper.
“The loan is a performing loan and I have never had any difficulty with a financial institution. It is not a burden on the State,” he said. He also said he was “nursing a substantial loss” on the land transaction.
The Nationwide mortgage on the Gortnahoo land, which is owned by Mr Lowry’s company, Abbeygreen Consulting Ltd, was not registered with the Land Registry until 2009, and it was not until last year that the owner’s name on the registry was switched to Abbeygreen from that of a nominee company used by Mr Lowry’s solicitor.
Mr Lowry has been told by the Dáil Committee on Members’ Interests that the fact he did not declare his interest in the land in the Dáil Register of Members’ Interests, was not in contravention of the obligations governing such matters for members of the Dáil.
In the course of his interview, Mr Lowry said that a ruling due to be made shortly by the Moriarty tribunal, in relation to his costs, could open up a new opportunity for him to launch a legal challenge against the tribunal. “The Moriarty tribunal saga is not over yet,” he said.
Mr Lowry again rejected both of the main findings of the tribunal. The tribunal found that he had interfered with the 1995 mobile phone licence competition to the benefit of businessman Denis O’Brien, and that certain transactions, examined by the tribunal, involved efforts by the businessman to confer a financial benefit on Mr Lowry.
During the interview, Mr Lowry said he had endured unfair press coverage from the Independent group over the past decade and a half, but that he expected this to change now that the O’Reilly family no longer controlled the group.
Mr O’Brien is now the group’s largest shareholder.
