Developers’ loans - Easier said than done

SPEAKING yesterday, the chairman of the National Asset Management Agency, Frank Daly, said the organisation had not, and would not, change its policy of pursuing property developers for the full amount they owe to banks.

This is a reassuring declaration but it would be far more comforting if it was easy to see how this happy conclusion might be reached. After all, a developer who has gone belly up is unlikely to be able to meet repayment commitments. That may, as taxpayers are given the dubious honour of taking up the slack, be a bitter pill to swallow, but it is an unavoidable reality.

Mr Daly emphasised that any personal guarantees given would be called upon. This may be stating the obvious but it is a little more than galling to watch as various developers, who have thrown themselves at the mercy of NAMA, continue to crowd the owners’ ring at race meetings or live in homes that would even surpass Jack O’Connor’s “trophy homes” description.