NAMA generates cash & pays off debts of €4.75bn
NAMA chief executive Brendan McDonagh and chairman Frank Daly
Nama has generated €10.5bn in cash and paid off €4.75bn in senior debt since it was set up in 2009, the agency has stated.
Nama has yielded €6.9bn through asset disposals and a further €3.5bn through rental incomes. Moreover, it ended 2012 with €3.6bn in cash balances. It is on course to meet its target of €7.5bn in senior bond redemption by the end of this year, it said in a statement.
Nama was set up in 2009 by the then finance minister Brian Lenihan to take over the large land development loans held by the domestic banks. Similar to the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, the agency is scheduled to run down its loanbook by 2020. It issued €32bn in bonds for €74bn of property loans.
According to its latest update, Nama made a €247m net profit in 2011, and a €222m net profit for the first six months of last year. When it was established, Mr Lenihan said the agency could make a €5bn profit. The target is now to break even over its lifetime.
Nama’s chief executive Brendan McDonagh said: “The generation of €10.5bn in cash in the 33 months since the first loans transferred to Nama reflects a strong performance in terms of asset disposals and also shows the importance for Nama of capturing the rental income from assets under the control of debtors.”
In May 2012, Nama announced it would make a €2bn capital investment in Irish property assets. Under this programme, it has approved €1.7bn in financing with just over €1bn of this drawn down so far.
Nama also announced last May that it was making available €2bn in vendor finance for potential buyers of assets under its control. It said the first transaction under this arrangement was made over the course of last year with a number of further potential transactions in the pipeline.
The agency has so far sold 3,900 individual properties and has €1.5bn of Irish assets currently on the market. A total of 3,879 properties have been earmarked for social housing. It is up to local authorities to determine whether these units are fit for social housing. So far 1,484 have been used for this purpose while another 841 are being evaluated.
Nama has sale agreed 100 of the 295 properties made available through the 80:20 deferred payment initiative. A total of 750 houses will made available under this programme during 2013.
Nama also yesterday appointed William O’Riordan and Declan MacDonald from PwC as receivers to five Treasury Holding companies — Treasury Holdings, Haybrook Ltd, Diamond Bay Ltd, Harrisrange Ltd and Streamglen Ltd.
‘Anna the heartbroken fiancée’ says I can’t imagine life without Ian McKeever
Ian McKeever on the summit of Everest right and Ian McKeever pictured with heartbroken fiancee Anna O’Loughlin left photo.
Anna O’Loughlin, who was on Mount Kilimanjaroin Tanzania where her partner was struck and killed by lightning on Wednesday, said she would miss him terribly.
They had been looking forward to celebrating the anniversary of their first meeting, which falls today.
In an emotional statement, she said the couple knew they were “soul mates” from the moment they first met.
“I met Ian exactly a year ago, as was typical of Ian, so much was lived in this time,” she said. “From the moment we met we knew we were soul mates.
“We spent so much time together, Ian was never off duty when it came to his charity work and climbing, so we did that together, climbing, trekking and meeting and making friends from Carrauntoohil to Lugnaquilla.
“Ian, I love you dearly, I miss you terribly, I cannot conceive what to do next without you, but yet I know you will always be with me.”
Survived
Further details of the last moments of the 42-year-old mountaineer and adventurer have emerged, with Tanzanian authorities saying he was en route to hospital when he died.
It also emerged that three Irish climbers in his party were struck with the same bolt of lightning which killed Mr McKeever, but they survived with minor injuries.
The well-known charity fundraiser was leading an expedition of 24 climbers to the summit of Kilimanjaro when he was struck by lightning at about 12.30pm.
A spokesman for Tanzania National Parks, Pascal Shelutete, told the Irish Independent that four of the party were treated in hospital.
“There was quite a lot of rain, and about 24 people were on their fifth day climbing the mountain,” he said.
“They were about to reach the point where they were supposed to stay overnight, but at midday huge rains accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning occurred and unfortunately Mr McKeever was hit by that.
“Lightning is not common, it happens rarely; this is the first time we have experienced this calamity.”
Each route to the summit is covered by a rescue team, which was at the scene shortly after he was struck.
“He was still alive when the rescue team arrived there. On the way down, that’s where things went wrong and that’s when he passed away.”
Mr McKeever’s remains are expected to be repatriated next week.
The expedition began their ascent the day before New Year’s Eve.
Mr McKeever, from Roundwood in Co Wicklow, mentored hikers, including schoolchildren, and formerly held the record for scaling the seven highest peaks in the world.
Tributes were paid by family, friends and Taoiseach Enda Kenny yesterday.
Mr McKeever was “extremely passionate” and had helped countless young people believe they could achieve their potential, the Taoiseach said.
His sister, Denise (40), said the family was “absolutely devastated” at his untimely death. He is survived by Denise and his parents Niall and Aideen, who live in Wicklow.
“We were so proud of Ian. He died doing what he loved,” she said. “Ian was always on the go so he was a constant worry for my parents and myself. He absolutely loved Kilimanjaro and he climbed it hundreds of times. He loved teaching first-timers on the mountain and he thrived on all of that.”
HSE takes control of the Mulross Nursing Home in Leitrim
A HIQA report in May 2012 found several issues at the Mulross Nursing Home
The Health Service Executive has agreed to take control of the Mulross Nursing Home in Leitrim from this evening.
In a statement, the Health Information and Quality Authority said the registered provider of the home has agreed to HIQA’s decision to cancel his registration.
The HSE will make alternative arrangements for the management of the home.
Mulross Nursing Home in Kilclare, Carrick-on-Shannon, wrote to residents at the end of December saying it was to close and alternative accommodation would have to be found.
The home has operated since 1987 and has capacity for around 30 residents, with 32 staff.
Stephen Buckley, the registered provider, said that the home will not be able to meet the requirements of the 2009 Health Act by January 2014 and had to give notice to residents and staff.
Mr Buckley said that the physical structure and room sizes were issues and the building would not be compliant with regulations.
In recent weeks, Brindley Healthcare was engaged to help manage the home. It is leased from owner Patricia Foley.
Ms Foley today said that the physical structure issues can be dealt with by 2014.
The last HIQA inspection report on the home in May 2012 found that some actions required since the last inspection had not been implemented.
Among the issues of concern were the management of medicines, staffing and recruitment, maintenance of records, notification of incidents and the complaints procedure.
A HSE inspection in 2007 found the home was not complying with certain regulations, including the prevention of infection.
Irish consumers score a victory with Bruton’s new law on debit/credit card fees rip-off’s
Irish consumers will gain a small victory over rip-off retailers who charge high rates for credit and debit card transactions.
The Government is to target controversial handling charges imposed on cards when consumers shop online for items like airline or concert tickets.
Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton plans to introduce new legislation early this year to crackdown on the contentious charges on foot of an EU consumer directive.
evidence
The European Commission, EU governments and consumer groups have expressed concern that handling fees, like those imposed by Ryanair and Aer Lingus for airline tickets, have increased substantially in the last few years, despite a lack of evidence that the cost of processing the card payments has risen significantly.
Examples include Ryanair’s administration fee, which has jumped from €2.50 in 2006 to €6 today, while the Aer Lingus charge for handling credit card payments was €3 in 2008 compared with €6 now.
Mr Bruton’s plans to introduce the measures have missed their original deadline.
He promised last year that measures to improve consumer rights regarding fees imposed for the use of cards would be in place by the end of 2012.
His Department had been forced to seek further legal advice from the European Commission and the Attorney General as a result of an issue which emerged during a consultation process last Autumn, a department spokesman said.
It is understood credit card companies made last minute efforts to have some of the proposed measures changed at both national and EU level.
It’s not clear yet when consumers will get legislative protection against the charges as an EU directive on the issue does not have to be applied until June 2014. But Mr Bruton intends to introduce such legislation early in 2013, the spokesman said.
The Consumers Association of Ireland said the proposed changes were “critically important” due to continuing growth in online shopping.
“Handling charges were often used as a licence to print money which caused immense frustration for consumers,” chief executive Dermot Jewell said.
Government officials say average service charge for small businesses in Ireland for credit card transactions is between 1.5pc and 2.5pc of the total charge and 15c-50c for Laser and debit cards.
Bug outbreak leads to visiting restrictions at four west of Ireland hospitals
Parents have been advised to keep children away from the hospital
Visiting restrictions are in place at hospitals in Sligo, Letterkenny, Galway and Limerick following outbreaks of the winter vomiting bug.
Letterkenny, Galway and Limerich hospitals where a ban on visiting remains in place in an attempt to curb an outbreak of the bug.
Visitors to wards are prohibited, with the exception of agreed visits to critically ill patients.
Parents are also being advised to keep children away from all areas of the hospital.
People have been advised that they should only attend the Emergency Department if there is a genuine emergency.
Visiting restrictions have also been imposed at Sligo General Hospital.
Members of the public have been asked to visit only in essential or exceptional circumstances.
Immediate relatives are asked to visit only during the designated visiting times, 2pm-4pm and 6.30pm-8.30pm.
A statement says that children should not be brought in to visit. Restrictions are also in place in one ward at Cavan General Hospital.
Nine pot-bellied pigs found abandoned on a Irish mountain in Wexford
One of the pot-bellied pigs rounded up by South East Animal Rescue
Nine pot-bellied pigs have been found abandoned on a mountainside in the Republic of Ireland.
The piglets were discovered two days ago by a woman who was walking her dogs on Mount Leinster in County Wexford.
Volunteers from the south east animal rescue team rounded up the piglets and have appealed for help to re-home them.
They said they believed the animals, which are all male and 12-16 weeks old, were bred for Christmas presents and then dumped when they were not sold.
Heather Wall from the South East Animal Rescue said it took a team of volunteers two days to catch all the pigs and bring them off the mountain.
“They are very fast and they can hide,” Ms Wall told the Irish state broadcaster, RTE.
“We actually had to use dogs to sniff them out, to find them for us, because we didn’t have a hope,” she said.
“We were trying to look for them and the only thing you can do is, when you see one, just try and grab it because they squeal and they run around everywhere”.
All nine pigs are currently being given shelter by a foster family just outside Enniscorthy, County Wexford.
Ms Wall said she believed they were abandoned because they were male piglets, which are usually more difficult to sell as they are sometimes perceived as being more aggressive than females.
She added South East Animal Rescue has received a lot of interest and were hopeful that they could find permanent homes for all the animals.
The pot-bellied pig is a domesticated breed that originated in Vietnam.
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