Ireland

The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) was granted permission by a US court to take control of 67 acres of land at Celbridge, Co Kildare, owned by bankrupt property developer Seán Dunne, the Irish Times reported. The State loans agency sought relief from the automatic stay granting Mr Dunne court protection from his creditors to take control of the land, which is now worth just €812,000 but is securing Nama debt of €65 million.

Two so-called vulture funds in the United States, which hold $75 million of subordinated bonds issued by the former Anglo Irish Bank, are threatening to scupper an attempt by the bank’s liquidators to protect $1 billion of its US assets from seizure by its creditors. The Irish Times understands that the funds, Burlington Alpha and Burlington Beta, are linked to Elliott Management, the giant hedge fund controlled by US billionaire Paul Singer. Mr Singer is one of the US Republican Party’s biggest contributors.

Two of the most significant impacts of the global financial crisis on Irish society have been the sharp rise in unemployment and the corresponding increase in the number of people leaving Ireland for better opportunities abroad, the Irish Times reported. At the beginning of 2008, just 4.9 per cent of the population was unemployed. In the 12 months to April that year, just 13,100 Irish people emigrated, and you would have been hard pressed to find many among them who felt they had no choice but to go.

The Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) has denied claims it will allow hospital consultants, accountants or solicitors will automatically be allowed to retain ownership of “trophy homes” they can’t afford, the Irish Times reported. Speaking on RTE radio last night, insolvency practitioner Jim Stafford said new personal insolvency practitioners (PIPs) would be given leeway by the ISI to assess the “type of house that might be needed for a professional person... as opposed to a house that’s needed by someone who is in the PAYE sector”.

Ireland’s deputy prime minister has accused international bailout lenders of treating his country like an economic experiment and said €3.1bn in budget cuts and tax hikes demanded by them for next year should be scaled back, the Financial Times reported. Eamon Gilmore, leader of Labour, the Irish government’s junior coalition partner, said imposing that level of austerity risked damaging the country’s fragile economic recovery and society more broadly. “We will not let the Irish economy become some type of economic experiment for austerity hawks,” he said in an interview.

The Minister for Finance has said that the publicity aspect of the new personal insolvency service may dissuade some applicants, but is still confident of its success, the Irish Times reported. Michael Noonan was responding to questions about the Insolvency Service of Ireland which has begun taking applications today from people who want to restructure their debts. The development means that in some cases people will be able to get some of their borrowings written off if creditors agree to deals. However, people who avail of the service will have their names published on a register.

The spouse of a bankrupt individual may need to buy their partner’s share of the family home in order to remain in the property, it was explained yesterday, the Irish Times reported. Chris Lehane, the State-appointed official in charge of the Insolvency Service of Ireland, was speaking to RTÉ news ahead of the new service which will start taking applications next week. Mr Lehane, the official assignee of bankruptcy, is the court-appointed official whose role is to assist bankrupts in their obligations to their creditors.

Ireland will get euro zone support to smoothly exit its bailout programme at the end of this year, the head of euro zone finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem told the European Parliament Thursday, the Irish Times reported. “Ireland’s performed very well in its programme and will exit the programme, but there will be measures to support its gradual exit,” he said. “I can’t give you any details on the way that will be formed yet ... but there will be support to make sure that it is a good exit and not a temporary exit,” Mr Dijsselbloem said.

Bank of Ireland has attempted to defend its dealings with distressed mortgage holders saying it cannot do special deals as it has to remain profitable, the Irish Times reported. Speaking at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, Bank of Ireland chief executive Richie Boucher said the institution was offering deals to customers that it was confident would help to keep them in their homes.

Banks have been accused of trying to stop mortgage holders in arrears opting for new state-backed insolvency deals, the Independent reported. The Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) is due to start taking applications for debt deals from Monday. Its arrival was supposed to the big fix for the mortgage crisis. But now it has emerged that banks are writing to homeowners in mortgage trouble trying to persuade them to take a deal outside the new service.