Nama obtains judgment orders worth €16m against directors

The National Assets Management Agency (Nama) has obtained judgment orders for €16.1 million each against two company directors from Co Meath and one from Co Galway, arising from unpaid loans advanced in connection with a housing development.

When the agency sought judgment yesterday from Mr Justice Peter Kelly at the Commercial Court, there was no appearance by or on behalf of the three defendants — Patrick O'Reilly, Glascarn Lane, Ratoath, Co Meath; Padraig Tierney, Paceland, Dunboyne, Co Meath and Gerard Tierney, St Brendan's, Ballygar, Co Galway.

The judge told Alison Keirse BL, for Nama, he was satisfied all three defendants had been properly served with the relevant court documents and, in those circumstances, would enter judgment against all three for the €16,128,609 sum sought.

The claim arose from loan facilities advanced by Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo Irish Bank, to the defendants jointly and severally under a facility letter of November 2009.

Under those facilities, some €13.24 million was advanced to renew the defendants' existing loans, originally advanced during 2005 and 2007 in connection with the acquisition and development of lands at Branganstown, Co Kildare, on which the defendants had proposed to develop 300 houses.

It was claimed no payment had been received towards the indebtedness. Nama took over the loans in November 2010. Business plans advanced by the defendants were rejected but efforts continued to achieve a consensual agreement aimed at maximum debt recovery and reduction.

Efforts to consensually reverse certain voluntary transfers of unencumbered assets by Patrick O’Reilly and Padraig Tierney were ultimately unsuccessful, Nama said.

In March 2013, IBRC wrote to the defendants stating they had been identified as uncooperative but giving them some more time to provide proposals to achieve reasonable debt reduction.

When no response was received, enforcement action was taken and the court proceedings were later initiated in January last demanding repayment of some €16.1m principal and interest outstanding on the loan facilities, Nama said.

Last February, Nama appointed a receiver over the 37.16 acres Branganstown lands which were charged as security for the debt. Ulster Bank Ireland Ltd also had an interest in 15 acres of the lands, a Nama official said in an affidavit.