The market just needs a bit of confidence to get going, says Isabel Morton

NOW THAT NAMA (National Asset Management Agency) is supposed to be looking after us by taking away all those bold bad debts which have been upsetting and frightening us over the last while, we should be able to get back to playing happily again. Shouldn’t we?

The banks may have been given a quick “lick and a promise” but how many of them have stood under the shower and washed properly?

How many have scrubbed away any, let alone all, of the ingrained filth?

Will NAMA do anything more than give the banks a clean set of clothes, which they will happily wear, in an effort to cover up their unwashed bodies?

They may look good for a short while. But how long will it be before they start to smell?

And when exactly can we expect these newly dressed banks to start doing what they’ve been telling us they have been doing all along? When precisely, are they going to start lending again?

We urgently need to see some cash flowing into the system in order to get the property market moving again. No-one is expecting a return to the days of old.

However, we are expecting to be able to get on with business, as we can only hold our collective breath for so long before expiring through lack of oxygen.

We now know precisely where we stand as far as the much-dreaded Budget is concerned. We also know that the future is likely to bring some form of residential property tax, although we do not know yet what the situation will be regarding stamp duty.

So, can we now take up our positions on the starting blocks? Are we now ready to go? We need to hear it announced loud and clear, through a megaphone. Ready. Steady. Go.

The spring property selling season is upon us.

Normally, at this time of the year estate agents are preparing brochures for the glut of properties which come on the market after Easter.

This year they are not. Prospective vendors are holding off until they see the “Sold” signs appearing on the existing selection of sale properties, some of which have been sitting on the market for months.

Estate agents, however, report “decent” viewing figures since early January and believe that people are ready to buy but lack the confidence.

One of the larger Irish estate agencies even claims that they have been getting mortgage approval for their clients without any great difficulty.

Perhaps they are telling me the truth and, if so, I am delighted for both them and their clients, but I see no obvious signs of it having been the case to date.

Confidence is gained gradually over time. It is not something that can be turned on and off like a tap.

So far, gut instinct has told us not to believe what the Government and the banks have been telling us. And our instinct proved to be correct. We were being given a particularly economical version of the truth.

So we are waiting on the sidelines, having watched property prices drop, interest rates drop and the cost of living drop. We then waited for the emergency Budget, just in case Lenihan would drop any surprises.

We now know that the time is right but we are still waiting for the “starter’s orders”.

Realistically, the only way we are going to believe that NAMA is going to work is if the Bold Brians call a press conference together with the Irish banks and the IMF (International Monetary Fund) to publicly announce that the Irish banking system has been cleared out, cleaned up and fumigated.

We would require the seal of approval from the IMF before we would feel confident that we are being told the truth.

And we would also expect them to continuously monitor the ongoing situation within the Irish banking and financial sector.

After all, the IMF are the ones who would have to pick up the pieces if Ireland Inc was to go under, and no doubt we must have come perilously close to it of late.

We would then need to provide a moratorium for all those who are experiencing genuine difficulty servicing their mortgages. If the banks have been given one, then so must the tax-paying public.

It is time to be decent, considerate and caring to those who, through no fault of their own, find themselves out of work and in dire financial straights.

Then, and only then, will we have truly cleaned up our mess and be able to get on with living our lives with confidence.

A quick rub down with a damp cloth is not enough. This time we want a total scrub down under a torrent of disinfectant and boiling soapy water.