The sometimes bohemian Minister for Finance and Personnel in the Northern Ireland Assembly, Sammy Wilson, today penned an opinion piece for the Belfast Telegraph on the subject of NAMA.
Referring to previous talks with the then-Minister for Finance, the late Brian Lenihan, Sammy recalls assurances given to him that there would be no fire sales of NAMA-controlled property in Northern Ireland. Since there is no real definition of the term “fire sale”, it seems NAMA will have to proceed with disposals inNorthern Ireland with caution, lest the agency breaks a solemn commitment.
Sammy raises an issue that seems to go unnoticed by politicians on this side of the border, the delays at NAMA in approving business plans. Remember that as of one month ago, the NAMA chairman Frank Daly told RTE that just one developer business plan was “close to finality” in terms of its full agreement; this 15 months after the first tranche of loans was acquired by the agency.
With an eye on NAMA’s €5bn development fund, Sammy calls for NAMA-controlled assets in Northern Irelandto be used or developed where possible. It’s funny that there hasn’t been any similar call from politicians on this side of the border, not even when NAMA redeemed €750m of its bonds which cost NAMA (and by extension the rest of us) just 1.5% per annum. What sort of stimulus might our economy have seen if the cash used to redeem this cheap loan from the ECB had been used instead for developing much-needed schools or care centres?
Lastly Sammy calls for Northern Ireland to have what he terms a “full representative” on the NAMA board which is a little puzzling; Peter Stewart (pictured here) is known to be the Northern Ireland representative member on the NAMA board and of course NAMA also has a committee, the Northern Ireland Advisory Committee, which includes Peter Stewart and an additional two stalwarts from Northern Ireland’s establishment, NAMA external board members, Frank Cushnahan (pictured here) and Brian Rowntree (pictured here). For a NAMA market which represents just 5% of the total NAMA portfolio, you might say thatNorthern Ireland has already sapped a disproportionate amount of NAMA managerial resource.
But for all of Sammy’s demands, consider this : a senior politician calling for NAMA to get its finger out with agreeing developer business plans and calling for capital funding for the development and use of assets – wouldn’t it be just splendid if we had such politicians on this side of the border?
NAMA Wine Lake 
Business plans? You must be joking. Those perverts are more interested in the WAGs’ fur coats and frilly knickers.
Which reminds me of the old joke about the main difference between the northside and southside girls. The southsiders being the ones with the real jewels and fake orgasms, while the northside girls….
I’m not familiar with Peter Stewart, Frank Cushnahan, or Brian Rowntree. Are these simply people from the North, or are they part of the political/civic system in Northern Ireland? More importantly, are they currently officially representing the interests of Northern Ireland in their NAMA positions? Are they accountable to the Executive for example?
And, since we are talking about the north, I raise the inevitable question: From which of the two tribes do these men hail? It would be unfortunate to hear that the government had managed to exclude the northern protestant community–they have a reputation for thrift.
Yeah that reputation for Northern prod thrift might be a bit overdone eg. Bankrupt Namafied developer Sam Thompson and his £90m Anglo PG or the Presbyterian Mutual Society (in administration) which had a loan book which looked a bit like INBS – more than 45% of loans were for development land. Or the Ulster Bank and its quarter after quarter of huge impairments. I could go on but you get the picture.
The most ‘establishment’ of those three mentioned above is Frank. Nominally a Catholic but a go-to guy for the DUP. He chaired the Performance & Delivery Unit at Stormont – a kind of Spanish Inquisition run out of the Department of Finance. He’s a bit like a mini Suds – a banker who drifts comfortably between the private and public sectors.
@JP, many thanks. I hadn’t previously known that Sam Thompson was in NAMA but I see that is what is reported by the BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-14322503
@JP, I see one of Sam’s properties in Co Down is on the market presently – a 8,000 sq ft mansion on 3 acres, with a three-bay detached garage, all finished to a very high standard apparently. And on the market for GBP 400k (or €470k). The property isn’t listed on DAFT.ie which is strange.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/woman/house-home/luxury-houses-buyer-frenzy-in-northern-ireland-price-drop-from-1m-to-400000-16031619.html
The receivers from RSM had two full pages of his stuff in the Bel Tel property supplement last week.
JP, Do you know anything about the tenure of Gerry McGinn (former INBS boss now First Trust MD) when he headed Goodbodys in the North? From recollection there were a few disastarous forays into property in the North by Goodbodys at the time. Just trying to get some detail on this. I can email you if you prefer.