Madam, – I nearly choked on my coffee when I read that Nama’s projected costs will be €2.64 billion just for fees and expenses over its 10-year life time (Business Today, March 20th).
This equates to €264 million annually and means the taxpayer will pay fees and expenses to those involved in Nama amounting to an average of €1 million per working day for 10 long years.
It’s reassuring to know that although the economy may have gone off the rails the gravy train is alive and well and running full steam ahead. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Suzanne Lynch’s article (Business Today, March 20th) on the scores of firms that won Nama tenders and those appointed on the advisory panel, made the eyes pop out of my head with alarm. Among them were well-known accountancy, legal, property valuation firms, international banking companies and the banks that originated the dormant loans. Surely, if these firms were good at their job from an economic macro point of view, there would be no need for Nama in the first place?
Another area of concern is a decade-old comment from Warren Buffett on advisers and helpers. He said the more of these people there are, the less the investor gets back. – Yours, etc.
Madam, – Now that the term “haircut” is widely used by economists and journalists to describe the reduced valuations placed on properties moving from the banks to Nama, should the valuers who are coming up with these figures now be referred to as barbers or indeed, if one wishes to be politically correct, stylists? – Yours, etc,