Nama-type agency may be answer - Distressed mortgages

WHEN Fianna Fáil set up Nama in 2009, it was a painful but necessary response to Ireland’s financial crisis, notwithstanding the fact that the party bore major responsibility for the economic meltdown in the first place.

Its purpose was to remove bad debts from the banks and recapitalise them so they could begin lending again. Despite provoking controversy over Project Eagle in the North, and, more recently, Project Tolka, Nama has achieved a measure of success and, considering the enormous task of dealing with €74bn in loans, has avoided out-and-out scandal.

It is still too early to tell whether Nama has been a triumph of financial firefighting but the signs are pointing that way. It may have lost out by selling some assets too quickly, but it has reduced the State’s exposure from €74bn to less than €6bn and could, in fact, return a profit to the taxpayer.