‘Small’ band of developers owe €1 billion each

A SMALL number of developers have property loans in excess of €1 billion each to which the taxpayer will be exposed as they are passed from the banks to the National Assets Management Agency (NAMA), an Oireachtas Finance Committee has heard.

A further 10 developers have loans of more than €500 million while at least 1,000 owe sums greater than €10m to the banks, which will pass “toxic assets” on to the state.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan admitted it could be up to 15 years before the state knows the full cost of the plan that, the committee heard, may not break even when the Government eventually realises the value of the assets.