Nama transfers 300 acres to Land Development Agency to be used for housing 

Sites in Dublin and Kildare valued at €68.5m can be used to deliver up to 4,500 homes

The two sites are located in Lissenhall, north Dublin, and Celbridge in Kildare, and have the potential to deliver up tp 4,500 homes. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) has handed over two major sites in Dublin and Kildare to the Land Development Agency (LDA), which can be used to deliver up to 4,500 homes.

The transfer has taken effect on foot of a direction by finance minister Paschal Donohoe to Nama and, as a transfer between two State bodies, means the sites will remain in State ownership.

The two sites together are valued at €68.5m, and the proceeds will form part of Nama's lifetime surplus, which is in the process of being transferred to the exchequer.

Nama chief executive Brendan McDonagh said as the agency approached its anticipated wind-down, “we have continued to look for ways to maximise the value of sites in our portfolio through intensive asset management and accelerating work to enable the future construction of additional new homes”.

The sites are located in Lissenhall, north Dublin, and Celbridge in Kildare.

The Lissenhall site, which is currently being used primarily for agricultural purposes, totals 212 acres and has the capacity for between 3,000 and 3,500 new homes. It includes the proposed site for the terminus of the Metrolink rail project.

The Celbridge site sits on 86 acres and has the capacity for 850 to 1,000 new homes. It is also being used at the moment for agriculture activity, and it sits next to a site on which the Department of Education intends to build three new schools.

A planning application for 344 new homes on this site is currently in the planning system.

LDA chief executive John Coleman said Kildare and the Greater Dublin Area was a “fast-developing and strategically important region, with a pressing housing need and we are delighted to acquire these important sites for the delivery of much-needed new homes”.

Nama is due to be wound down by the end of this year with its remaining debtors, as well as transferring remaining operations to other agencies.

The board of Nama is projecting the agency’s lifetime contribution to the exchequer will be €5.5bn, which includes its lifetime surplus of €5.05bn and corporation tax payments of about €450m.

Established in 2009, Nama was part of Ireland’s response to the banking and property crisis which sought to take over toxic bad debts from the nation's banks. Its objective was then to obtain the best achievable return for the State from these assets.