Property developer Bernard McNamara has said he has debts of up to €1.5 billion and that it was “probably” the case that he would lose his family home on Ailesbury Road in Dublin.
In an interview with RTE Radio Mr McNamara said he was "broke" but that the family building company, Michael McNamara & Co, was not "interlinked" with his other business concerns and was a viable company. He announced his resignation as executive chairman of the company
In a statement issued today he said the company was "a legally separate and profitable entity from him and from his property development activities and therefore unaffected by a judgment in the High Court".
He was referring to a judgment for €62.5 million granted to a number of Davy investors against him and arising from the €412 million purchase of the former Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend, Dublin, in 2006, by a consortium in which he was involved. He has said he cannot pay the judgment.
On RTE he said a settlement figure of €5 million to €10 million was being discussed between the parties over recent days. In an apparent reference to the possibility of seeking to have some of his businesses placed in examinership, he said he had chosen not to go the "Liam Carroll" route.
He said property developers were "pariahs" now but he was not ashamed of anything he had done. He would do his best to pay what he could, out of his income. "I will be there if they want to come and get me," he said.
