Finance agency arranged 250m in loans

THE National Development Finance Agency (NDFA), set up to provide cheap sources of capital to local authorities, has arranged 250 million in lending in the past few months.

Set up last year, the NDFA said that in its first full year of operations it has advised six local authorities and state agencies on funding issues and had also arranged lending facilities for 250m out of projects worth 700 million.

It said that it was also providing financial advice on a further 20 projects with a capital value of 6 billion.

The NDFA which comes under the aegis of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), said it was also expecting a busier workload in 2004 and some 60 projects will be assessed.

The agency has appointed Anne Counihan as its new chief executive.

She is currently head of legal and corporate affairs at the NTMA and will replace current NDFA chief Jim Farrell.

Meanwhile, the State Claims Agency (SCA), which handles all personal injury claims made against all Government bodies, settled 541 claims in 2003. This cost the State 5.63 million and 1.75m in costs. It also said that following a Supreme Court ruling last February it would be seeking costs from 500 plaintiffs who had taken so-called "worried well" cases against the State. The cost from these cases, where plaintiffs are seeking compensation for psychiatric injuries arising from an irrational fear of contracting disease where the chance of catching it are remote, had totalled 2.5m according to SCA head Adrian Kearns.

He said there had been a decline in the number of cases received by the SCA in recent months.

"We don't know why it is declining but there is a general trend of declining claims in the insurance industry.

There is also a greater awareness of health and safety issues in government departments and local authorities."

He added: "Certain judgement, including the Supreme Court in February, give signals that courts can take a fairly tough line against plaintiffs who may not have best case."