NAMA to go after homes of wealthy developers. (Cowen and Lenihan reject plea to spare family houses).
Cowen ignored lobbying by CIF for builders.
It’s right to seize developer homes
The above three, tough talking, headlines from yesterday’s Irish Independent give the impression that the Government are going all out to deal with those nasty property developers, that the wealthy are not being let off the hook at the expense of the hard pressed taxpayer.
And that, of course, is exactly the purpose of the propaganda which, as always, is gratefully lapped up by naïve journalists.
Government ‘sources’ feed journalists the story that NAMA will move to seize the personal assets and houses of property developers in the best interests of the taxpayer.
The tough talking, no nonsense sheriff, Brian Lenihan, even included a provision in the NAMA Act to pursue developers who transferred their assets to their wives or children in an attempt to avoid paying their debts.
Alas, it’s nothing but the usual waffle designed to fool long suffering taxpayers (and journalists) as the following quote demonstrates.
However, the NAMA Act does state that nothing in its provisions will interfere with the 1976 Family Home Protection Act, which prohibits the sale, mortgage or remortgage of a family home in Ireland without the express consent of both spouses.
That may make it harder for NAMA to take away family homes from property developers with large debts.