Opposition sceptical about Nama projections

Opposition parties are today pouring scorn on the Government's projection that the National Assets Management Agency (Nama) will make a €5.5bn profit for the taxpayer.

A draft business plan published by the Department of Finance last night anticipates that developers will default on €15bn of the €77bn in loans being taken over by Nama.

It shows that the Government expects to be able to recover €4bn of this loss by selling off assets used as collateral on these loans.

The Government expects the remaining €62bn worth of loans to be repaid by 2020.

When the various costs associated with Nama are taken into account, this would amount to a profit of €5.5bn for the taxpayer.

The Opposition parties, however, say the business plan contains no information about how these assumptions were arrived at.

Fine Gael's Richard Bruton says the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny and the Loch Ness monster are more credible propositions than the financial projections contained in the plan.

Labour's Joan Burton, meanwhile, says the projections are overly optimistic and she does not anticipate Nama making any such profit.

The Nama legislation passed its first major hurdle in the Dáil last night, with TDs approving the bill by 77 votes to 73 at the end of the second-stage debate.