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What's next for our battered property market? For the life of | 0:00:03 | 0:00:07 | |
everyone's mortgage, there will be no (inaudible) The crash has handed | 0:00:07 | 0:00:11 | |
control to the Dublin government. Will their need for cash tip us | 0:00:11 | 0:00:17 | |
into free-fall? This is not just about rescuing greedy property | 0:00:17 | 0:00:27 | |
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developers. I think we are entering Property, land, it means so much to | 0:00:47 | 0:00:51 | |
us here, but after the biggest crash in living memory, it's | 0:00:51 | 0:00:58 | |
actually worth so much less. Prices have been cut in half. We thought | 0:00:58 | 0:01:05 | |
we had valuable assets. Instead, we've just got mountains of debt. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:11 | |
Tonight, I'm on a journey into the heart of our property market. The | 0:01:11 | 0:01:15 | |
crash is damaging more than house prices, but jobs and opportunities | 0:01:15 | 0:01:20 | |
too. Northern Ireland borrowed big. Thanks to the crash, Dublin has all | 0:01:20 | 0:01:23 | |
the IOUs. What happens if they come to collect? You thought things | 0:01:23 | 0:01:33 | |
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couldn't get any worse, you need to Our journey starts with a chunk of | 0:01:42 | 0:01:48 | |
property that has an interesting pedigree. I always like to get | 0:01:48 | 0:01:52 | |
dressed up for special occasions, these boots are about to set foot | 0:01:52 | 0:01:55 | |
on one of Northern Ireland's most special pieces of property. When | 0:01:55 | 0:02:00 | |
this land came on the market in 2007, after generations in one | 0:02:00 | 0:02:06 | |
family, it causeed quite a stir, tripling in price, in just nine | 0:02:06 | 0:02:14 | |
months. Can you see why? This ground sold for an incredible �1.7 | 0:02:14 | 0:02:18 | |
million. It was intended to become a housing development. It never | 0:02:18 | 0:02:25 | |
even had planning permission. million. For one acre of land. | 0:02:25 | 0:02:35 | |
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You bought it four years after that for? �94,000. That is a drop of | 0:02:37 | 0:02:43 | |
something around 94%? Yeah. It is. That is a serious drop in price? | 0:02:43 | 0:02:48 | |
is. Hard to believe. When you look around the place, the grass, the | 0:02:48 | 0:02:53 | |
danger of drowning. Hard to see how you could have marketed it at �1.7 | 0:02:53 | 0:02:58 | |
million? Yeah. The banks were pushing prices up. Everybody was | 0:02:58 | 0:03:03 | |
being silly. Yet, when you look at it, if you were to take the fact it | 0:03:03 | 0:03:08 | |
dropped from �1.7 million to �94,000 over the space of 4 months. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:15 | |
A drop of �33,000 a month. As we are standing here it could still be | 0:03:15 | 0:03:19 | |
falling in value. It could be worth nothing by January? It's worth | 0:03:19 | 0:03:23 | |
something to us. No matter what we paid for. It an acre of land the | 0:03:23 | 0:03:26 | |
market value as is today. What do you want to do with it? We are | 0:03:26 | 0:03:30 | |
hoping to develop it. We have no rush to do so. We can sit on it. | 0:03:30 | 0:03:33 | |
See what the market does. We have ideas and we are putting them | 0:03:33 | 0:03:38 | |
together at present. Do you think it will be worth �1 million again? | 0:03:38 | 0:03:41 | |
Always that possibility. We have the time. We believe it's at rock | 0:03:42 | 0:03:48 | |
bottom at the minute. Who can tell. Who can tell? Is there worse to | 0:03:48 | 0:03:51 | |
come? These questions are critical to the future wellbeing of Northern | 0:03:51 | 0:04:01 | |
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Ireland. The thing is, we may not Welcome to this house. It is for | 0:04:04 | 0:04:09 | |
sale. These surroundings were reckoned to be under a shade of �1 | 0:04:09 | 0:04:13 | |
million. This is the dining room. lovely room to be in for | 0:04:13 | 0:04:19 | |
entertaining friends and family. The estate agent's brochure tells | 0:04:19 | 0:04:26 | |
us that this five bed roomed house redefines classical elegance. You | 0:04:26 | 0:04:31 | |
are hoping the floor will add to the value. It was left over from a | 0:04:31 | 0:04:36 | |
church restoration project. They had enough to do this floor. | 0:04:36 | 0:04:40 | |
also defines the unprecedented scale of our property crash. | 0:04:40 | 0:04:45 | |
guess, if we put it on six months before we did it might have gone | 0:04:45 | 0:04:50 | |
quite quickly. Our timing was a little bit late. What is it on for | 0:04:50 | 0:04:54 | |
now, what was it on for at the beginning? It started off at �950. | 0:04:54 | 0:04:58 | |
It wasn't a figure picked out of the air as such. It was very much, | 0:04:58 | 0:05:03 | |
this is what is being offered. Now, we are pretty much half that. We | 0:05:03 | 0:05:09 | |
are just under the �500 stamp duty threshold. This is the property | 0:05:09 | 0:05:14 | |
market in Northern Ireland today. Sales are slow, while prices have | 0:05:14 | 0:05:18 | |
been falling fast. Alan and Dot aren't in negative equity. That is | 0:05:18 | 0:05:25 | |
when you owe more in debt than your house is worth. Brian is. Property | 0:05:25 | 0:05:28 | |
in most ordinary people's life is their security. You are going out, | 0:05:28 | 0:05:33 | |
coming home at night to your property. I even would see it as a | 0:05:33 | 0:05:38 | |
long-term part of your pension of the later life you would have | 0:05:38 | 0:05:42 | |
equity to get you through difficult times. You know, so the fear of | 0:05:42 | 0:05:47 | |
losing all that, it's like just presenting a black hole to you. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:51 | |
Brian owes the bank �60,000 more than his house is worth. The crunch | 0:05:51 | 0:05:56 | |
came when he lost his job and couldn't make his mortgage payments. | 0:05:56 | 0:06:05 | |
I was in a good, secure employment. With a satisfactory salary, able to | 0:06:05 | 0:06:09 | |
maintain a good lifestyle it's amazing how quick it can change. | 0:06:09 | 0:06:15 | |
From being totally secure, and being able to have a life, to | 0:06:15 | 0:06:21 | |
feeling, where do you go? Where is the way out here? What's in front | 0:06:21 | 0:06:25 | |
of you? What does the future hold? At the moment, to me, it just looks | 0:06:25 | 0:06:29 | |
black. He expects the bank to take the house from him in a couple of | 0:06:29 | 0:06:33 | |
months. They will sell it, but that won't pay off the mortgage. Leaving | 0:06:33 | 0:06:40 | |
Brian to find the remaining �60,000. The fact of there being a shortfall | 0:06:40 | 0:06:44 | |
on the property. Does that mean I will end up in bankruptcy because | 0:06:44 | 0:06:48 | |
of shortfalls? Where does it actually stop? It won't stop with | 0:06:48 | 0:06:51 | |
the repossession of the property. Obviously, there will be a | 0:06:51 | 0:06:56 | |
shortfall. Where does this nightmare stop? Brian is just one | 0:06:56 | 0:07:01 | |
of 44,000 households in Northern Ireland in negative equity. That is | 0:07:01 | 0:07:06 | |
equivalent to every house household in Newry, Coleraine, Ballymena, | 0:07:06 | 0:07:11 | |
Antrim Ando ma combined. If they are hoping for a rise in prices to | 0:07:11 | 0:07:15 | |
help they are likely to be disappointed. For the life of | 0:07:15 | 0:07:19 | |
everyone's mortgage there will be no recovery. Mortgages typically | 0:07:19 | 0:07:23 | |
last 20, 25 years. There will be no recovery in the lifetime of any of | 0:07:23 | 0:07:27 | |
the mortgages that currently exist. That is hard to take in for people | 0:07:27 | 0:07:31 | |
who grew up with the idea that property goes up, safe as houses, | 0:07:31 | 0:07:37 | |
what happened to that? Only thing safe is the bricks and mortar, the | 0:07:37 | 0:07:42 | |
asset value is not safe. That is it. That one view. Others are more | 0:07:42 | 0:07:46 | |
positive. There is some evidence buyers are returning, if the price | 0:07:46 | 0:07:53 | |
is right. I've come to Donegal Square, the commercial heart of | 0:07:53 | 0:07:57 | |
Belfast. In these lean times this estate agency has gone back to | 0:07:57 | 0:08:03 | |
selling property by auction. In September, it raised �2.3 million. | 0:08:03 | 0:08:09 | |
A far cry from 2007 when their previous auction sold property | 0:08:09 | 0:08:14 | |
worth �82 million in a single morning. Chalk and cheese in terms | 0:08:14 | 0:08:20 | |
of the lot size and the number of lots. We would have 60 plus lots. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:30 | |
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Figures from �500,000, we are down to �50,000 up to �300 ,000. How are | 0:08:31 | 0:08:36 | |
you doing? They are getting ready for another auction. Most ever the | 0:08:36 | 0:08:41 | |
properties are repossessions which are on the up. Misery for | 0:08:41 | 0:08:46 | |
homeowners. The bell there is quite significant. They ring it whenever | 0:08:47 | 0:08:51 | |
there is a deal done in this office. You can imagine the boom times it | 0:08:51 | 0:08:55 | |
was being rung constantly. I hear there are some people in this | 0:08:55 | 0:08:58 | |
office who have never heard it chime. To buy property you need | 0:08:58 | 0:09:04 | |
money. That used to come from banks. Not any more. Bank finance for | 0:09:05 | 0:09:07 | |
almost anything in property at the moment is difficult to obtain. What | 0:09:07 | 0:09:12 | |
we are actually doing, what the auction is doing, is, next, looking | 0:09:12 | 0:09:18 | |
for cash purchasers. I have �20, you would need more to buy one of | 0:09:18 | 0:09:22 | |
these properties? �20 would be a start, but I think, yes, you would | 0:09:22 | 0:09:26 | |
need more. In our upcoming auction there would be one or two lot sizes | 0:09:26 | 0:09:30 | |
that are surprisingly small. If you clear your credit card you might be | 0:09:30 | 0:09:33 | |
able to buy something. Talking about that finance. What was it | 0:09:33 | 0:09:39 | |
like during the boom, trying to get finance, what is it like today? | 0:09:39 | 0:09:43 | |
2005 to 2007, if we had a client who wanted to buy an investment | 0:09:43 | 0:09:48 | |
property for �10 million, he could go round the Square by lunchtime | 0:09:48 | 0:09:54 | |
have six offers to fund the purchase of that. Anywhere up to | 0:09:54 | 0:10:00 | |
maybe 90% or 95% of the requirement. Today, the same client could walk | 0:10:00 | 0:10:07 | |
around with an e -- equally good asset and not receive an offer. | 0:10:07 | 0:10:11 | |
That is the difference. Land, land, land was the banking mantra until | 0:10:11 | 0:10:15 | |
the banks ran out of money. When they ran out of money, so did | 0:10:15 | 0:10:20 | |
everyone else. The loans couldn't be re-paid. The banks were bust. To | 0:10:20 | 0:10:24 | |
get some idea of the sheer scale of economic carnage causeed by the | 0:10:24 | 0:10:28 | |
crash on the island of Ireland you only have to look around at the | 0:10:28 | 0:10:33 | |
banks and their accounts on this square. To the north, First Trust | 0:10:33 | 0:10:41 | |
and it is parent AIB, nationalised by the Irish government. 14 billion | 0:10:41 | 0:10:48 | |
gone. To the south, Bank of Ireland, 9 billion, disappeared. To the east, | 0:10:48 | 0:10:55 | |
Ulster Bank, now owned by the UK taxpayer. Well, they have waved | 0:10:55 | 0:11:02 | |
goodbye to.2 billion. To the west, Northern Bank. It's Danish-owned. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:05 | |
It's accounts reflect a local picture. It was famously robbed by | 0:11:05 | 0:11:11 | |
the IRA in 2005, in the biggest UK bank heist ever, they could have | 0:11:11 | 0:11:14 | |
returned every month for a year- and-a-half before they would get | 0:11:14 | 0:11:23 | |
close to what went out the door in the crash. It robbed Northern of | 0:11:23 | 0:11:28 | |
�577 million. The banks handed out money like there was no tomorrow, | 0:11:28 | 0:11:33 | |
but tomorrow came. It's a zombie banking system. It has the | 0:11:33 | 0:11:37 | |
appearances of a normal banking system but not the practice. In | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
that, there is no serious lending going on in Northern Ireland. | 0:11:40 | 0:11:45 | |
does it look like they are operating just fine? They are on | 0:11:45 | 0:11:51 | |
life support from the taxpayer. On a very, very large scale. The whole | 0:11:51 | 0:11:56 | |
structure is maintained by British and Irish governments. When the | 0:11:56 | 0:12:03 | |
crisis hit the UK government moved quickly to sure up banks like RBS, | 0:12:03 | 0:12:07 | |
owners of Ulster Bank. The Irish government had a particular problem | 0:12:07 | 0:12:11 | |
and a particular solution. The problem was, the scale of the crash | 0:12:11 | 0:12:15 | |
and the amount of toxic debt in such a small financial system. The | 0:12:15 | 0:12:20 | |
Irish banks simply had no money to get them working again the Irish | 0:12:20 | 0:12:26 | |
government decided to take out of all of the bad loans into a so- | 0:12:26 | 0:12:29 | |
called bad bank, it's called National Asset Management Agency, | 0:12:29 | 0:12:34 | |
Nama for short. It's the biggest player in town. You won't see it | 0:12:34 | 0:12:37 | |
around here. They are a major influence into what happens. How | 0:12:37 | 0:12:42 | |
they decide to approach dealing with property and the re-- recovery | 0:12:42 | 0:12:44 | |
of debt will be important no everyone in Northern Ireland over | 0:12:44 | 0:12:49 | |
the next few years. An Irish government agency became the key | 0:12:49 | 0:12:54 | |
player in property here. Nama took control of office blocks, housing | 0:12:54 | 0:13:02 | |
developments and undeveloped land totalling �3.35 billion. It would | 0:13:02 | 0:13:06 | |
be enough to pay off completely everybody's mortgage who had bought | 0:13:06 | 0:13:16 | |
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a home here over the last four It is such a big agency, with 74 | 0:13:16 | 0:13:19 | |
billion the nominal value of the loans on its books, that it needs | 0:13:20 | 0:13:26 | |
to realise it almost is the property market in Ireland. �3.5 | 0:13:26 | 0:13:31 | |
billion is a helluva lot of assets to earn him a very small market | 0:13:31 | 0:13:36 | |
like Northern Ireland, so what they do we have a huge influence on the | 0:13:36 | 0:13:46 | |
0:13:46 | 0:13:49 | ||
property market there. Welcome to NAMA town, County Down. Is this a | 0:13:49 | 0:13:55 | |
glimpse of Northern Ireland's future? A place where the Dublin | 0:13:55 | 0:14:02 | |
government effectively calls the shots in their property market. | 0:14:02 | 0:14:08 | |
Much of Sam Thompson's money came from the banks in Dublin. In 2007, | 0:14:08 | 0:14:12 | |
Thomson told the Council of his plans for new housing estates, a | 0:14:12 | 0:14:22 | |
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bypass and a new school, but NAMA's debts drag down his grand designs | 0:14:23 | 0:14:30 | |
for this town. The current financial situation has put all of | 0:14:30 | 0:14:34 | |
that on hold which have an impact not only in terms of industrial | 0:14:34 | 0:14:38 | |
development on the outskirts of the town but also in terms of high-spec | 0:14:38 | 0:14:45 | |
and modern schools. You are talking about something that is affecting | 0:14:45 | 0:14:48 | |
people's education and employment prospects. It has a major impact. | 0:14:48 | 0:14:54 | |
The problem comes when a property developer gets into the situation | 0:14:54 | 0:14:59 | |
that Sam Thompson is in. When it is in receivership, there is a | 0:14:59 | 0:15:03 | |
different perspective. A Sam's debts are tied up between several | 0:15:03 | 0:15:09 | |
banks but because none much moved first, they sealed his fate. They | 0:15:09 | 0:15:13 | |
started selling dozens of his properties the summer at knock-down | 0:15:13 | 0:15:18 | |
prices. Unfinished flats here could be had for �40,000 but the real | 0:15:18 | 0:15:28 | |
0:15:28 | 0:15:29 | ||
discounts came at the top end of the market. Assam Thomson property | 0:15:29 | 0:15:32 | |
offered at �1.2 million sold earlier this year but for a third | 0:15:32 | 0:15:39 | |
of its original price. And this luxury house was originally 1.3 �5 | 0:15:39 | 0:15:43 | |
million. When it went back on the market two weeks ago, it was left | 0:15:43 | 0:15:52 | |
than half that. Again, there is a web of bands involved alongside | 0:15:52 | 0:15:56 | |
NAMA, but when they combined to offer property, that adds fuel to | 0:15:56 | 0:16:00 | |
the sale, and the neighbours can only watch their tidy profit go up | 0:16:00 | 0:16:07 | |
in smoke. This couple live yards from the Sam Thompson's Homes, | 0:16:07 | 0:16:12 | |
which have driven down the asking price of their home. When it was | 0:16:12 | 0:16:17 | |
first on the market, in their initial ownership, they were | 0:16:17 | 0:16:21 | |
significantly well above our own price so we thought on the back of | 0:16:21 | 0:16:24 | |
the marketing that was going on with those properties, perhaps it | 0:16:24 | 0:16:29 | |
might attract somebody to come and look at our House, but since this | 0:16:29 | 0:16:34 | |
situation has taken hold, they have come in beneath us, so we have been | 0:16:34 | 0:16:41 | |
on an island and in suspended animation. This is a metre range | 0:16:41 | 0:16:44 | |
property in the scheme of some of the mansions that have been built | 0:16:44 | 0:16:49 | |
in the area -- mid-range property. When you get back level of houses | 0:16:49 | 0:16:52 | |
coming on the market at the seriously discounted price, it is | 0:16:52 | 0:16:58 | |
pretty much impossible to compete. Selling to a low is the problem for | 0:16:58 | 0:17:04 | |
this couple. Not selling at all is the problem near by. A potential | 0:17:04 | 0:17:07 | |
manufacturing investment that would bring jobs is stalled because the | 0:17:07 | 0:17:17 | |
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investor can't find a plot of land that is tied up in NAMA. We know | 0:17:19 | 0:17:24 | |
someone who is interested in a plot of land and we have pointed them in | 0:17:24 | 0:17:28 | |
the direction of the receivership. Are we talking about a company that | 0:17:28 | 0:17:34 | |
could employ people? Yes, and manufacturing company that is | 0:17:34 | 0:17:43 | |
interested in land. But they have a different set of priorities, NAMA. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:47 | |
Yes, they don't want to send it to several individual people and break | 0:17:47 | 0:17:53 | |
it up. You are talking to specific examples where this is affecting | 0:17:53 | 0:18:02 | |
employment prospects in the area. That is correct. Mall developers | 0:18:02 | 0:18:09 | |
will definitely go bust as NAMA takes decisions. Many businesses | 0:18:09 | 0:18:14 | |
who dabbled in property could also go under. They used cash flow from | 0:18:14 | 0:18:17 | |
the companies to borrow money to fund their property deals. Now | 0:18:17 | 0:18:22 | |
those loans could kill or otherwise healthy companies. That his | 0:18:22 | 0:18:31 | |
company's employee in hundreds of people now caught in the NAMA web. | 0:18:31 | 0:18:35 | |
Up until now, they have been trying to sort out the sheep from the | 0:18:35 | 0:18:43 | |
goats, but now NAMA have to decide those businesses they have taken in. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:47 | |
What are we going to do with the land? That is where the fire sale | 0:18:47 | 0:18:51 | |
danger could arise, where they simply try to offload all of that | 0:18:51 | 0:18:55 | |
land on to the market and make the situation worse, and what do we do | 0:18:55 | 0:19:00 | |
with the business? In many cases, there are real businesses attached | 0:19:00 | 0:19:06 | |
to these property loans. Make no mistake, this is about jobs, not | 0:19:06 | 0:19:12 | |
just property. The titanic building is striking and it is our most | 0:19:12 | 0:19:20 | |
expensive tourism project ever. The company building it arose NAMA | 0:19:20 | 0:19:24 | |
nearly 500 million euros. Harcourt has already had a business plan | 0:19:24 | 0:19:28 | |
approved by them and the funding on this project is entirely separate. | 0:19:28 | 0:19:35 | |
All good so far, but legally NAMA could still call in that big loan | 0:19:35 | 0:19:39 | |
at a moment's notice. Will they sink our Titanic tourism project? | 0:19:39 | 0:19:44 | |
That is unlikely but the truth is, no one really knows. This is | 0:19:44 | 0:19:52 | |
uncharted territory. I have spoken to some of the firms caught up in a | 0:19:52 | 0:19:56 | |
NAMA and the receivers going after them. That could happen in the new | 0:19:56 | 0:20:02 | |
year. No one talks on camera. But the businesses involved in this | 0:20:02 | 0:20:07 | |
fear they are not talking with a bank that was to protect its assets | 0:20:07 | 0:20:12 | |
but the agency of a government that wants to get cash, and if you need | 0:20:12 | 0:20:15 | |
cash quickly and you have got assets, the only thing you can do | 0:20:15 | 0:20:24 | |
is liquidate. Conner makes his living negotiating | 0:20:24 | 0:20:32 | |
on behalf of both big developers and small investors in debt to the | 0:20:32 | 0:20:39 | |
banks and NAMA. There has to be some fear factor in the day-to-day | 0:20:39 | 0:20:43 | |
situation but it is more the uncertainty. We don't know what is | 0:20:43 | 0:20:48 | |
going to happen to the assets. Is there going to be a disposal | 0:20:48 | 0:20:53 | |
programme executed in the next 12 months? Is that a fire sale? Some | 0:20:53 | 0:20:58 | |
might say fire-sale, others may say, will they sell the assets in the | 0:20:58 | 0:21:06 | |
next three years? This is where the economic becomes political. For | 0:21:06 | 0:21:11 | |
generations, Unionists in Northern Ireland have feared doubling from | 0:21:11 | 0:21:16 | |
meddling north of the border. -- Dublin. Who would have thought they | 0:21:16 | 0:21:21 | |
would have gained most interest by effectively going bust? To be the | 0:21:21 | 0:21:24 | |
most influential man in Northern Irish property, I have had to go to | 0:21:24 | 0:21:31 | |
Dublin. With the stroke of a pen, he could put 150,000 companies out | 0:21:31 | 0:21:35 | |
of business. In his first interview for a Northern Ireland audience, | 0:21:36 | 0:21:40 | |
the chairman says he is confident of the part he wields over the | 0:21:40 | 0:21:47 | |
economy. When we send a company or a developer into receivership, in | 0:21:47 | 0:21:52 | |
some quarters that would be perceived as a popular outcome. I | 0:21:52 | 0:21:56 | |
would personally regarded almost as a failure, that we haven't managed | 0:21:56 | 0:22:01 | |
to engage with that individual all with that debtor on a co-operative | 0:22:01 | 0:22:05 | |
basis and keep them going. There will be cases where they are just | 0:22:05 | 0:22:11 | |
not viable and there is no point in stepping away from that. There is | 0:22:11 | 0:22:18 | |
just no future. It is in nobody's interest to keep them going. NAMA, | 0:22:19 | 0:22:24 | |
we can't. We have already spent billions in tax money and the last | 0:22:24 | 0:22:29 | |
thing we should do is spend further good money after bad bank lending. | 0:22:29 | 0:22:34 | |
One of the developers has gone bust and the council's stake they would | 0:22:34 | 0:22:39 | |
like to get industrial development going but NAMA is not discussing | 0:22:39 | 0:22:43 | |
how they would release land at the moment. I am aware of the cases but | 0:22:43 | 0:22:48 | |
I will not discuss the particular case because of confidentiality but | 0:22:48 | 0:22:52 | |
I am surprised that anybody would say we are not engaging on issues | 0:22:52 | 0:22:58 | |
like this because I know there his engagement and I can assure you, | 0:22:58 | 0:23:01 | |
there will be no difficulty with continued engagement on that or any | 0:23:01 | 0:23:10 | |
other case. And that engagement in Northern Ireland is playing against | 0:23:10 | 0:23:14 | |
a background of economic turmoil in the republic and the wider crisis | 0:23:14 | 0:23:23 | |
in the eurozone, which adds up to one thing. Dublin's need for money. | 0:23:23 | 0:23:26 | |
NAMA's job to bring in money, what does it mean for Northern Irish | 0:23:26 | 0:23:34 | |
Holdings? To be dump it? Absolutely not. It is something to be done | 0:23:34 | 0:23:39 | |
over time. Our lifespan is intended to be seven-ten years, so we don't | 0:23:39 | 0:23:44 | |
have to deal with this in the morning. No fire sales, no | 0:23:44 | 0:23:50 | |
speculative hoarding, just a very steady, measured disposal over a 7- | 0:23:50 | 0:23:55 | |
10 year period. We are aware of the sensitivities in Northern Ireland | 0:23:55 | 0:23:59 | |
said they will be very careful about how they sell assets but | 0:23:59 | 0:24:04 | |
ultimately, if there is no buyers within five to ten years, there | 0:24:04 | 0:24:09 | |
will be fire-sale prices. already know Dublin's need for | 0:24:09 | 0:24:12 | |
money can be too broken promises. Two weeks ago, the Irish government | 0:24:12 | 0:24:18 | |
dumped plans for Ireland's most expensive road project, a �400 | 0:24:18 | 0:24:27 | |
million commitment for road up grading. As NAMA gets more | 0:24:27 | 0:24:30 | |
desperate for cash, Northern Ireland is an easier place to sell | 0:24:30 | 0:24:35 | |
than in the public. Politically you are right and that is why it is | 0:24:35 | 0:24:40 | |
good and important that we keep political relations with the | 0:24:40 | 0:24:44 | |
decision makers in the Republic, so that we can keep on pressing our | 0:24:44 | 0:24:48 | |
case. It is not in the interests of the republic to have an economy | 0:24:48 | 0:24:58 | |
0:24:58 | 0:25:02 | ||
here which is a basket case. Northern Ireland does -- it does | 0:25:02 | 0:25:10 | |
have a direct line to NAMA. But here is the big problem. Northern | 0:25:10 | 0:25:14 | |
Ireland's fortunes, and the company's are entwined but our | 0:25:14 | 0:25:19 | |
priorities are separate. They need to look after taxpayers in the | 0:25:19 | 0:25:22 | |
republic and storm it needs to worry about the ones here. So far | 0:25:22 | 0:25:26 | |
relations have been good but as we enter what the finance minister | 0:25:26 | 0:25:31 | |
calls this dangerous phase, is that relationship good enough? It seems | 0:25:31 | 0:25:36 | |
not, because suddenly Stormont's special advisory role is and that | 0:25:36 | 0:25:41 | |
special. There is a vacancy on the board at the moment and Stormont | 0:25:41 | 0:25:49 | |
once its name on the feet. -- wants its name on the seat. I think we | 0:25:49 | 0:25:53 | |
need it to be more formalised with someone on the board and it would | 0:25:54 | 0:25:58 | |
be naive of me to believe there will not be casualties. There will | 0:25:58 | 0:26:02 | |
be casualties. I want to ensure by working with the Irish government | 0:26:02 | 0:26:09 | |
and by having an input into NAMA and by ensuring that they fully | 0:26:09 | 0:26:15 | |
understand the importance of many of those businesses to Northern | 0:26:15 | 0:26:20 | |
Ireland, we minimise the impact it will have, but I am sure that there | 0:26:20 | 0:26:26 | |
will be cases where it is inevitable that NAMA will make | 0:26:26 | 0:26:30 | |
decisions that will impact on the real economy in Northern Ireland. | 0:26:30 | 0:26:35 | |
There is a lot of anger, a lot of fear, a lot of emotion, because we | 0:26:35 | 0:26:39 | |
are talking in some instances, maybe a family business that has | 0:26:39 | 0:26:42 | |
been up and running for 40 years and because maybe they got involved | 0:26:43 | 0:26:46 | |
in the property market in the last five years, they are unable to pay | 0:26:46 | 0:26:53 | |
their debts. That is a veritable -- difficult situation to deal with. | 0:26:53 | 0:26:58 | |
For Brian, at the sharp end of the property crash, it feels like the | 0:26:59 | 0:27:02 | |
institutions who caused the problem was saved at all costs and worse | 0:27:02 | 0:27:09 | |
still, the apparent culprits still write them rule book. We are | 0:27:09 | 0:27:14 | |
getting charges from these people for direct debits and extra charges | 0:27:14 | 0:27:20 | |
in a roof. Basically the banks have been bailed out. Could that not | 0:27:20 | 0:27:30 | |
have been put towards people that are in difficulty? The Bank... If | 0:27:30 | 0:27:34 | |
it had not have lent me such a high amount of money on the value of the | 0:27:34 | 0:27:44 | |
0:27:44 | 0:27:45 | ||
property, then why are they getting bailed out? What would you say to | 0:27:45 | 0:27:50 | |
someone who says, this is surely only to do with property? It will | 0:27:50 | 0:27:55 | |
not have any impact on me? This is not just about rescuing property | 0:27:55 | 0:28:02 | |
developers, this is about trying to ensure that the Northern Ireland | 0:28:02 | 0:28:07 | |
economy and those businesses caught up in this whole web of property | 0:28:07 | 0:28:16 | |
speculation on not affected in a way which adds to our economic woes. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:21 | |
Northern Ireland's future has been mortgaged to the Republic. The | 0:28:21 | 0:28:25 | |
Republic's future has been mortgaged to Europe. Can we really | 0:28:25 | 0:28:29 | |
expect preferential treatment from a state where its citizens are | 0:28:29 | 0:28:34 |