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My Nama Gets the Green Light

21
Feb, 2010

In order to sell Nama to its membership last year, the Green Party came up with a plan to establish an expert group that would help people struggling with personal or mortgage debt. The intention was that the group would issue recommendations on measures to assist people in debt arrears within a matter of months. The plan, which the Green leadership dubbed  “My Nama”, was included in the revised Programme for Government and it looks as if it is now about to get the green light.

According to the Sunday Business Post, Government officials hope to announce the membership of the group and its terms of reference if the Cabinet gives it final approval on Tuesday. The group will make a series of recommendations on the management of debt on a regular basis, rather than producing one report in six months time.

There had, apparently, been some nervousness about the proposal in the Department of Finance. It was concerned about the effects on Ireland’s already fragile banks of a wave of debt write-offs for mortgage arrears and some officials remain sceptical that widespread restructuring is either possible or advisable. There is, they say, more likely to be agreement on the regulation of debt collection agencies, new rules on bankruptcy and the establishment of a debt enforcement office.

But with the strains on Government brought about by the O’Dea controversy, Government sources see the necessity of going ahead with the commitment to “My Nama” sooner rather than later.

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