Most exiting Nama debtors pay far less than what they owe

Only 61 of the 505 debtors who have exited the National Treasury Management Agency have paid their debts in full.

Figures released by the Minister for Finance confirmed that €14.9 billion of the €27.3 billion owed has been recouped.

The statistics outline how 68 per cent of those exiting Nama have paid less than half of what they owed. Of those, 51 debtors have paid less than 10 per cent of the money owed; 225 have paid off less than 30 per cent.

The Minister, Michael Noonan, defended the organisation, insisting it was never expected to recover all of the debts it inherited.

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“The average discount was 57 per cent,” he said. “However, the acquisition discounts varied significantly depending on the underlying quality of the assets.”

Nama was established in 2012 by the then minister for finance, Brian Lenihan. It is due to be wound down by 2018. It is ultimately expected to yield a profit for the taxpayer.

Optimising return

When established, Nama was tasked with optimising the best return for Irish taxpayers. However, Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said the figures raised questions about its performance.

Mr Doherty said Nama’s mandate was to recoup as much money as possible from its debtors for the Irish people. “That is a far cry from the Brian Lenihan commitment that debtors would pursued ‘to the ends of the earth’.”

He also said: “The Nama strategy, under direction from the Minister, to offload assets earlier than originally planned means that, in many cases, it has been the vulture funds that have benefitted from repayments from these debtors in a recovering property market.”

Sinn Féin argues that Nama sales should be frozen until a new policy is developed that ensures the maximum yield for the taxpayer.