92 Nama debtors owing €11bn declared bankrupt

Finance minister Michael Noonan has revealed that 92 debtors in Nama — with combined debts of €11bn — have declared themselves bankrupt.

Mr Noonan has also revealed that more than half of those who declared themselves bankrupt have been discharged from their bankruptcy.

In a written Dail response to Fianna Fáil’s finance spokesman Michael McGrath, Mr Noonan said that 54 of those 92 bankrupts have been discharged from bankruptcy.

The figures show that since June 2014, an additional 15 Nama debtors declared themselves bankrupt.

The UK is the location of choice for those developers declaring themselves bankrupt, giving rise to ‘bankruptcy tourism’ due to the more favourable regime there where debtors can exit bankruptcy after one year.

According to the data, 70 Nama debtors have declared themselves bankrupt in the UK or 76% of the overall total with 20 declaring themselves bankrupt in Ireland and only two doing so in the US.

The numbers declaring themselves bankrupt reached a peak in 2012 when 32 declared themselves bankrupt with 29 doing so in the UK. In 2013, this reduced to 18; while another 15 declared themselves bankrupt last year made up of 10 in the UK and five in Ireland.

To date this year, three Nama debtors have declared themselves bankrupt in Ireland with one doing so in the UK.

Mr Noonan also revealed that, this year, three debtors have been discharged from bankruptcy. Some of those developers to exit bankruptcy in the UK include Bernard McNamara, Paddy Shovlin, and John Fleming.

In his written response to Mr McGrath, Mr Noonan said: “As a secured lender, Nama’s experience has been that bankruptcy has not prejudiced recoveries on secured assets. As a secured lender, Nama is legally entitled to enforce over and realise assets securing its loans. This is not affected by debtor bankruptcy.

“Furthermore, Nama advises me that in practically all bankruptcy cases involving its debtors, it had enforced over or had realised the secured assets securing its loans prior to the debtor’s filing for bankruptcy.”

Mr Noonan said “Nama does not write-off its unsecured debt as a result of a debtor being adjudicated a bankrupt.”