Knocking of apartments to cost €150k

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has confirmed the demolition of an apartment block in Co Longford is set to cost Nama €150,000. Last week, Nama announced its intention to demolish an apartment block containing 12 apartments at the Gleann Riada estate in Longford town.

Providing the background to the demolition in response to a written parliamentary question by Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty, Mr Noonan said the apartment block “had been subject to continuous vandalism and anti-social behaviour, including the removal of all fixtures and fittings; and had become a significant source of concern for neighbouring residents”.

Nama assumed loans on the property in Dec 2010 and Mr Noonan said the apartment block was poorly built, located on a floodplain and in an industrial estate.

Mr Noonan said: “As a result of its condition and location, Nama advises that the investment required to bring the property to a habitable state and to the point that it could be sold, in the unlikely event that a willing buyer exists, would be such as to make the investment uneconomical and that it is questionable whether structurally such works could in fact be undertaken.”

Mr Noonan said Nama “has made a provision of €150,000 for all demolition and remediation works relating to the block”.