Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 26 September 2013

Public Accounts Committee

Annual Report and Financial Statements 2012: Discussion with National Asset Management Agency

10:50 am

Mr. Brendan McDonagh:

No. Now we are beginning to see much more interest in the Irish market. In 2009, there was only €97 million worth of activity in the Irish property market. In 2010, it was about €200 million. In 2011, it was something similar. In 2012, it was about €550 million. Already this year, the Irish commercial property market is worth in excess of €1 billion.

As I said in my speech, we sell into the market on the basis of what the market can absorb. If one is going to put more onto the market than it can absorb then, in effect, one is going to give away the portfolio for nothing. That is not NAMA's objective or its commercial or statutory remit. It is to have an orderly and phased disposal of the assets and to sell them at prices that are realistic and captures their intrinsic value.