THE GOVERNMENT AGENCY set up to take over property loans from Ireland’s bust banks in 2009, the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), is set to be dissolved by the end of next year.
The Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), which was formed after Anglo Irish Bank was taken into State ownership, will also be liquidated.
Minister of Finance Jack Chambers announced today that he has secured cabinet’s approval to dissolve the agency next year, sixteen years after it was established.
Nama has begun taking commercial and operational steps towards implementing a “phased and orderly” winding down by the end of 2025.
The agency, which purchased almost €32 billion worth of bad property development loans from Ireland’s banks after the 2008 financial crash, is expected to conclude its operations with a lifetime surplus of €5.2 billion.
“Goodbye and good riddance,” business representative body Chambers Ireland said in a statement after the announcement today.
Ian Talbot, chief executive of the group, commended the work of Nama and the IBRC throughout the years, which he believed had been “extremely successful”.
Developers who had their assets managed by ‘the bad bank’, repaid their debts to the agency after the fallout of the recession.
Since, the initial €32 billion has been repaid, Nama has helped to secure social and private housing for the State and assisted in the redevelopment of industrial areas around Ireland, such as Dublin’s Docklands.
According to the Minister, Nama contributed to the funding and delivery of over 37,000 new homes and over 3,000 new social housing homes since it was established.
The agency was the subject of much criticism of those in opposition when it was established, including by former Taoiseach and then-Fine Gael spokesperson for enterprise Leo Varadkar who said the then-Fianna Fáil Government was “gambling” with taxpayer money.
“It won’t get credit flowing and it exposes taxpayers to all of the risk,” he said, with Fine Gael proposing that the Government establish a recovery bank instead. Academics and TDs from the Opposition also criticised the establishment of Nama at the time and in later years.
It was the view of critics at the time that establishing an asset management agency, rather than a recovery scheme, was a risk that could lead to tax funds being spent on managing undesirable assets that would not bring any return on the investment.
Some major also developers went bankrupt as a result of Nama taking control of their assets.
Nama has been contributing returns to the Exchequer since 2013.
In March former finance minister Michael McGrath conceded that Nama had hit its limit towards helping to build more affordable homes in Ireland.
The Conclusion of IBRC Special Liquidation and Dissolution of NAMA Bill 2024 had been in the works for some time, primarily by Minister McGrath before his nomination as Irish EU Commissioner last month.
Minister Chambers commended the assets management agency, adding that it had “inherited” a troubled loan book and was able to make “exceptional progress” in recent years.
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