Property company posts €16.8m loss

A BERNARD McNamara property development company recorded a loss of €425,058 last year.

Accounts just filed by Radoo Lands Ltd, show that the company’s loss last year resulted in the firm’s accumulated losses totalling €16.8 million at the end of December last.

Figures show €15.5m of the loss relates to a writedown in current and financial assets in 2009.

The loss was recorded last year and Mr McNamara resigned from the company on September 26 last.

Mr McNamara, with fellow directors of Radoo Lands Ltd and Clare developers Sean Lyne and Noel Connellan, had entered a deal with Clare GAA in 2008 to purchase the Cusack Park grounds as part of a plan to transform the area into a €350m shopping quarter. The three purchased a site adjacent to Cusack Park for an undisclosed sum to advance their plans.

Clare GAA entered a deal to sell the 10-acre Cusack Park to the three for €86m, but the deal fell through in 2008 after town councillors agreed the grounds should remain open space.

In November 2009, Mr McNamara’s construction firm, Michael McNamara & Co was placed into receivership, while in January of last year in an RTÉ interview, Mr McNamara admitted he was broke.

Prior to the property crash, Mr Lyne and Mr Connellan spent millions acquiring large tracts of zoned land around Ennis for development purposes. Much of it remains idle.

The loss last year arose from a €415,311 impairment of a current asset. A note on the accounts states the work in progress was valued at €650,000 at the end of last year.

The company had bank loans totalling €13.1m secured by personal guarantees with Bank of Scotland Ltd of €1m plus interest by each of the directors and a floating charge over all of the assets of the company.