125-476: The National Asset Management Agency ( NAMA ; Irish : Gníomhaireacht Náisiúnta um Bhainistíocht Sócmhainní ) is a body created by the government of Ireland in late 2009 in response to the Irish financial crisis and the deflation of the Irish property bubble . NAMA functions as a bad bank , acquiring property development loans from Irish banks in return for government purple debts bonds , ostensibly with
250-600: A Draft NAMA Business Plan . Within the Supplementary Data Document there is data on the financial ratios of the six covered banks. Adding up the Tier 1 capital of the six covered institutions, as reported in the Supplemental Data document leads to total Tier 1 capital of €29bn. This compares to combined risk-weighted-assets of €363bn, and a Tier 1 capital ratio of 7.9%. Basel II recommends
375-547: A unique dialect of Irish developed before falling out of use in the early 20th century. With a writing system , Ogham , dating back to at least the 4th century AD, which was gradually replaced by Latin script since the 5th century AD, Irish has one of the oldest vernacular literatures in Western Europe . On the island, the language has three major dialects: Connacht , Munster and Ulster Irish . All three have distinctions in their speech and orthography . There
500-594: A veto over all decisions of the Board that could affect the interests of NAMA or of the Irish government. The Master SPV is run with the objective of making a profit on the purchase and management of the assets it purchases. The private investors in the Master SPV are entitled to the following economic return: the equity investors will receive an annual dividend linked to the performance of the Master SPV; On winding up of
625-717: A bargaining chip during government formation in Northern Ireland, prompting protests from organisations and groups such as An Dream Dearg . Irish became an official language of the EU on 1 January 2007, meaning that MEPs with Irish fluency can now speak the language in the European Parliament and at committees, although in the case of the latter they have to give prior notice to a simultaneous interpreter in order to ensure that what they say can be interpreted into other languages. While an official language of
750-523: A better future for Ireland and all her citizens." The Strategy was produced on 21 December 2010 and will stay in action until 2030; it aims to target language vitality and revitalization of the Irish language. The 30-page document published by the Government of Ireland details the objectives it plans to work towards in an attempt to preserve and promote both the Irish language and the Gaeltacht. It
875-478: A cultural and social force. Irish speakers often insisted on using the language in law courts (even when they knew English), and Irish was also common in commercial transactions. The language was heavily implicated in the "devotional revolution" which marked the standardisation of Catholic religious practice and was also widely used in a political context. Down to the time of the Great Famine and even afterwards,
1000-553: A degree course in the NUI federal system to pass the subject of Irish in the Leaving Certificate or GCE / GCSE examinations. Exemptions are made from this requirement for students who were born or completed primary education outside of Ireland, and students diagnosed with dyslexia . NUI Galway is required to appoint people who are competent in the Irish language, as long as they are also competent in all other aspects of
1125-409: A different political party or faction is in power. A re-nationalization process may also be called "reverse privatization". Nationalization has been used to refer to either direct state-ownership and management of an enterprise or to a government acquiring a large controlling share of a publicly listed corporation . According to research by Paasha Mahdavi, leaders who consider nationalization face
1250-482: A dilemma: "nationalize and reap immediate gains while risking future prosperity, or maintain private operations, thereby passing on revenue windfalls but securing long-term fiscal streams." He argues that leaders "nationalize extractive resources to extend the duration of their power" by using "this increased capital to secure political support." Nationalization can have positive and negative effects. In 2019 research based on studies from Greenwich University found that
1375-417: A discount, referred to as a haircut , estimated at 30% of book value, and in exchange the banks will be given bonds to sell to raise cash. The 30% discount to the €77bn book value outlined by NAMA includes circa €9bn of unpaid interest. The current value of the assets will not be based on their estimated market value , but on a higher notional "long-term economic value". This higher value is ultimately based on
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#17327767998451500-460: A fully recognised EU language for the first time in the state's history. Before Irish became an official language it was afforded the status of treaty language and only the highest-level documents of the EU were made available in Irish. The Irish language was carried abroad in the modern period by a vast diaspora , chiefly to Great Britain and North America, but also to Australia , New Zealand and Argentina . The first large movements began in
1625-426: A government to take property in certain situations. Due to political risks that are involved when countries engage in international business, it is important to understand the expropriation risks and laws within each of the countries in which business is conducted in order to understand the risks as an investor in that country. Studies have found that nationalization follows a cyclical trend. Nationalization rose in
1750-515: A guarantee from the Irish Government. According to the details provided to Eurostat, the Master SPV is a separate legal entity and is jointly owned by private investors , who would own 51% of its equity and therefore have the majority vote, and by NAMA, which would hold the remaining 49%. The subscribed capital of the Master SPV would be €100m. Although the SPV has its own Board, NAMA retains
1875-623: A large property development company, made an application to court seeking the appointment of an examiner . The appointment of an examiner would have allowed it protection from its creditors. Zoe Developments was estimated to have €1.2bn of loans with a likely deficit of €900m in a liquidation scenario. The €1.2bn of loans included debts of €489m to AIB and €113m to Bank of Ireland. In addition to Zoe Developments, Carroll's overall liabilities, including other businesses are estimated to total €2.8bn. On 10 September 2009, High Court judge Frank Clarke refused to appoint an examiner to Zoe Developments despite
2000-473: A location for funding of banking operations," said Mr Cowen. He previously said that the Government's objective in restructuring the banks through NAMA was to "generate more access to credit for Irish business at this critical time". In September 2009, Lenihan expressed a similar view, saying it would lead to more lending for business and households. Cowen was responding to reports published on 8 February that
2125-587: A loss. On Thursday 17 September 2009, the day after the estimated cost of NAMA was announced, shares in AIB and Bank of Ireland rose in value. On the ISEQ Index, shares in AIB rose by 30% and shares in Bank of Ireland rose by 17%. Shares for both banks were also up on the U.S. stock markets. Based on the information presented in the Supplementary Data Document , if the €68bn book value was transferred at €54bn to NAMA,
2250-486: A minimum ratio of 4% capital requirement . According to the Supplementary Data Document , the long-term-economic value of the loans transferred to NAMA was 15% higher than the market value. NAMA applied statutory adjustment factors to estimate the valuation of €54bn. The document also noted that asset prices would need to increase from current market values by 10%, for the government and taxpayers to avoid any loss, taking into account subordinated debt. The difference between
2375-585: A paper suggested that within a generation, non-Gaeltacht habitual users of Irish might typically be members of an urban, middle class, and highly educated minority. Parliamentary legislation is supposed to be available in both Irish and English but is frequently only available in English. This is notwithstanding that Article 25.4 of the Constitution of Ireland requires that an "official translation" of any law in one official language be provided immediately in
2500-575: A pass in Leaving Certificate Irish or English, and receive lessons in Irish during their two years of training. Official documents of the Irish government must be published in both Irish and English or Irish alone (in accordance with the Official Languages Act 2003, enforced by An Coimisinéir Teanga , the Irish language ombudsman). The National University of Ireland requires all students wishing to embark on
2625-601: A ratio of 2.2%. However, this analysis looks at the aggregate data provided in the Supplemental Data Document . For a clearer picture, NAMA would need to give a breakdown of the loans to be transferred, by institution, as well as the book value and market value of each. Some additional information was provided on 13 October 2009 in the Draft NAMA Business Plan , indicates that the six covered institutions have taken €7bn of provisions in
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#17327767998452750-625: A religious context. An Irish translation of the Old Testament by Leinsterman Muircheartach Ó Cíonga , commissioned by Bishop Bedell , was published after 1685 along with a translation of the New Testament. Otherwise, Anglicisation was seen as synonymous with 'civilising' the native Irish. Currently, modern day Irish speakers in the church are pushing for language revival. It has been estimated that there were around 800,000 monoglot Irish speakers in 1800, which dropped to 320,000 by
2875-570: A result of the collapse of the Irish property market, Irish banks have property development loan assets secured on property with a market value significantly below the amount owed. Many loans are now non-performing due to debtors experiencing acute financial difficulties. Both factors have led to a sharp drop in the value of these loan assets. If the banks were to recognise the true value of these loans on their balance sheets, they would no longer meet their statutory capital requirements . The banks, therefore, need to raise further capital; however, given
3000-517: A separately created Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). In a letter from the Central Statistics Office of Ireland (CSO) to Eurostat, dated 22 September 2009, details are provided on the suggested creation by NAMA of a Master Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) known as National Asset Management Ltd and controlled by the holding company National Asset Management Agency Investment Ltd. The CSO sought guidance from Eurostat on how NAMA and
3125-633: A statutory basis as a separate body corporate with its own Board appointed by the Minister for Finance and with management services provided by the National Treasury Management Agency . The Bill envisaged that NAMA would arrange and supervise the identification and valuation of property-backed loans on the books of qualifying financial institutions in Ireland, but would delegate the purchase and management of these loans to
3250-545: A strategy to build socialism, more commonly nationalization was also undertaken and used to protect and develop industries perceived as being vital to a nation's competitiveness (such as aerospace and shipbuilding), or to protect jobs in certain industries. Nationalization has had varying levels of support throughout history. After the Second World War , nationalization was supported by social democratic and democratic socialist parties throughout Western Europe, such as
3375-449: A total of €51m of NAMA's initial capital of €100m. NAMA then geared up way above typical EU banking limits , taking on debt 35 times its paid-up capital. The reason given for this is that the loans are temporary; they have bought other loans at a discount (see below); will be repaid on property sales; and are subject to continuous review. They are similar in function to bridging loans . The purpose of NAMA's quasi-independent legal status
3500-455: A two-part payment system. In his speech to the Dáil on 16 September 2009, the Minister of Finance Brian Lenihan indicated that alternatives to NAMA that did not use long-term economic value would lead to the need for fresh equity to be injected by the government into the financial sector of between €4 and 7 billion. Coincidentally, the upper end of this figures is equal to the difference between
3625-420: A valuation reconsidered." In addition, critics also pointed out that the use of the term, often capitalised, Long Term Economic Value which was popular in the press around the time of the establishment of NAMA, often as the acronym LTEV , gave the impression that it was a well-known or accepted term in economics. It was pointed out that, in fact, the acronym did not appear on any internet page before 2009, with
3750-440: A view to improving the availability of credit in the Irish economy . The original book value of these loans was €77 billion (comprising €68bn for the original loans and €9bn rolled up interest), and the original asset values to which the loans related was €88bn, with there being an average Loan To Value of 77% and the current market value is estimated at €47 billion. NAMA is controversial, with politicians (who were in opposition at
3875-545: A wider meaning, including the Gaelic of Scotland and the Isle of Man , as well as of Ireland. When required by the context, these are distinguished as Gaeilge na hAlban , Gaeilge Mhanann and Gaeilge na hÉireann respectively. In English (including Hiberno-English ), the language is usually referred to as Irish , as well as Gaelic and Irish Gaelic . The term Irish Gaelic may be seen when English speakers discuss
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4000-452: Is also An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , a standardised written form devised by a parliamentary commission in the 1950s. The traditional Irish alphabet , a variant of the Latin alphabet with 18 letters , has been succeeded by the standard Latin alphabet (albeit with 7–8 letters used primarily in loanwords ). Irish has constitutional status as the national and first official language of
4125-511: Is divided into four separate phases with the intention of improving 9 main areas of action including: The general goal for this strategy was to increase the number of daily speakers from 83,000 to 250,000 by the end of its run. By 2022, the number of such speakers had fallen to 71,968. Before the partition of Ireland in 1921, Irish was recognised as a school subject and as "Celtic" in some third level institutions. Between 1921 and 1972, Northern Ireland had devolved government. During those years
4250-587: Is only in Gaeltacht areas that Irish continues to be spoken as a community vernacular to some extent. According to data compiled by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht , Sport and Media , only 1/4 of households in Gaeltacht areas are fluent in Irish. The author of a detailed analysis of the survey, Donncha Ó hÉallaithe of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology , described
4375-412: Is still spoken daily to some extent as a first language . These regions are known individually and collectively as the Gaeltacht (plural Gaeltachtaí ). While the fluent Irish speakers of these areas, whose numbers have been estimated at 20–30,000, are a minority of the total number of fluent Irish speakers, they represent a higher concentration of Irish speakers than other parts of the country and it
4500-492: Is that, as chief economist of the World Bank, we see this type of thing happening in banana republics all over the world. Whenever a banking crisis happens, the financial sector uses the turmoil as a mechanism to transfer wealth from the general population to themselves. I've been very disappointed to see that it has happened, not only in banana republics, but in advanced industrialised countries." On 21 October 2009, ahead of
4625-614: Is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state . Nationalization contrasts with privatization and with demutualization . When previously nationalized assets are privatized and subsequently returned to public ownership at a later stage, they are said to have undergone renationalization . Industries often subject to nationalization include telecommunications , electric power , fossil fuels , railways , airlines , iron ore , media , postal services , banks , and water (sometimes called
4750-401: Is the seizure of private property by a public agency for a purpose deemed to be in the public interest. It may also be used as a penalty for criminal proceedings. Expropriation differs from eminent domain in that the property owner is not compensated for the seized property. Unlike eminent domain, expropriation may also refer to the taking of private property by a private entity authorized by
4875-482: Is to remove its debts from general Irish government debt. This is the position of the government, the International Monetary Fund and Eurostat . But, as the three private investors are bank-run pension fund managers, whose parent or major-shareholder companies had been all but nationalised by 2011, and as the 2010 Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Act allows the government powers to apply to
5000-666: The Fíor-Ghaeltacht (true Gaeltacht ), a term originally officially applied to areas where over 50% of the population spoke Irish. There are Gaeltacht regions in the following counties: Gweedore ( Gaoth Dobhair ), County Donegal, is the largest Gaeltacht parish in Ireland. Irish language summer colleges in the Gaeltacht are attended by tens of thousands of teenagers annually. Students live with Gaeltacht families, attend classes, participate in sports, go to céilithe and are obliged to speak Irish. All aspects of Irish culture and tradition are encouraged. The Act
5125-606: The Dáil and Seanad , and passed, on 15 October 2009 by 77 votes to 73. The committee stage of the bill started on 22 October 2009. Following the passing of the bill in both houses of the Oireachtas , President Mary McAleese decided to sign the bill into law on 22 November 2009, despite calls from the Labour Party to seek advice from the Council of State regarding its constitutionality . The assets will be taken on at
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5250-712: The Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous to the island of Ireland . It was the majority of the population's first language until the 19th century, when English gradually became dominant, particularly in the last decades of the century, in what is sometimes characterised as a result of linguistic imperialism . Today, Irish is still commonly spoken as a first language in Ireland's Gaeltacht regions, in which 2% of Ireland's population lived in 2022. The total number of people (aged 3 and over) in Ireland who declared they could speak Irish in April 2022
5375-631: The Republic of Ireland , and is also an official language of Northern Ireland and among the official languages of the European Union . The public body Foras na Gaeilge is responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island. Irish has no regulatory body but An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , the standard written form, is guided by a parliamentary service and new vocabulary by a voluntary committee with university input. In An Caighdeán Oifigiúil ("The Official [Written] Standard ")
5500-519: The World Bank , speaking at Trinity College Dublin criticised NAMA. He said, "Countries which allow banks to go under by following the ordinary rules of capitalism have done fine. The US has let 100 banks go this year alone, as did Sweden and Norway in their crises." As well as commenting that in Ireland, "this bank bailout is a simple transfer from taxpayers to bondholders, and it will saddle generations to come. The only thing that might give you solace
5625-451: The commanding heights of the economy ), and in many jurisdictions such entities have no history of private ownership. Nationalization may occur with or without financial compensation to the former owners . Nationalization is distinguished from property redistribution in that the government retains control of nationalized property . Some nationalizations take place when a government seizes property acquired illegally. For example, in 1945
5750-524: The "IMF (Mr Seelig) do not believe that Nama will result in significant increase in bank lending in Ireland". The Government has maintained that NAMA's purchase of bad loans from the banks with State bonds would increase the flow of credit in the economy since the plan was unveiled April 2009. Speaking at the publication of the NAMA legislation in September 2009, Mr Lenihan said it would "strengthen and improve"
5875-491: The 15% uplift to get to €54bn and the need for a 10% uplift for the taxpayer to avoid a loss, was explained in the Draft NAMA Business Plan. This analysis took into account the expected part payment in subordinate debt to the six covered institutions of €2.7bn (circa 5% of the €54bn transfer value). This subordinated debt holders may receive none of the proceeds in a scenario where the taxpayers are exposed to
6000-634: The 17th century, largely as a result of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland , which saw many Irish sent to the West Indies . Irish emigration to the United States was well established by the 18th century, and was reinforced in the 1840s by thousands fleeing from the Famine . This flight also affected Britain. Up until that time most emigrants spoke Irish as their first language, though English
6125-649: The 1960s and 1970s, followed by an increase in privatization in the 80s and 90s, followed again by an increase in nationalization in the 2000s and 2010s. The term appears as "expropriation of expropriators ( ruling classes )" in Marxist theory , and also as the slogan "Loot the looters!" ("грабь награбленное"), which was very popular during the Russian October Revolution . The term is also used to describe nationalization campaigns by communist states , such as dekulakization and collectivization in
6250-789: The 1998 Good Friday Agreement , the language gradually received a degree of formal recognition in Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, and then, in 2003, by the British government's ratification in respect of the language of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . In the 2006 St Andrews Agreement the British government promised to enact legislation to promote the language and in 2022 it approved legislation to recognise Irish as an official language alongside English. The bill received royal assent on 6 December 2022. The Irish language has often been used as
6375-400: The 2021 census of Northern Ireland , 43,557 individuals stated they spoke Irish on a daily basis, 26,286 spoke it on a weekly basis, 47,153 spoke it less often than weekly, and 9,758 said they could speak Irish, but never spoke it. From 2006 to 2008, over 22,000 Irish Americans reported speaking Irish as their first language at home, with several times that number claiming "some knowledge" of
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#17327767998456500-403: The 6th century, used the Latin alphabet and is attested primarily in marginalia to Latin manuscripts. During this time, the Irish language absorbed some Latin words, some via Old Welsh , including ecclesiastical terms : examples are easpag (bishop) from episcopus , and Domhnach (Sunday, from dominica ). By the 10th century, Old Irish had evolved into Middle Irish , which
6625-571: The Act all detailing different aspects of the use of Irish in official documentation and communication. Included in these sections are subjects such as Irish language use in official courts, official publications, and placenames. The Act was recently amended in December 2019 in order to strengthen the already preexisting legislation. All changes made took into account data collected from online surveys and written submissions. The Official Languages Scheme
6750-481: The British Labour Party . In the United States, potentially nationalizing healthcare is often a topic of political disagreement and makes frequent appearances in debates between political candidates. A 2020 poll shows that a majority (63%) of Americans support a nationalized healthcare system. A re-nationalization occurs when state-owned assets are privatized and later nationalized again, often when
6875-404: The European Union , only co-decision regulations were available until 2022, due to a five-year derogation, requested by the Irish Government when negotiating the language's new official status. The Irish government had committed itself to train the necessary number of translators and interpreters and to bear the related costs. This derogation ultimately came to an end on 1 January 2022, making Irish
7000-457: The French government seized the car-maker Renault because its owners had collaborated with the 1940–1944 Nazi occupiers of France . In September 2021, Berliners voted to expropriate over 240,000 housing units , many of which were being held unoccupied as investment property. Economists distinguish between nationalization and socialization , which refers to the process of restructuring
7125-413: The Government's current approach of limited recapitalisation and the introduction of an asset management agency, under four headings. We consider that nationalisation will better protect taxpayers' interests, produce a more efficient and longer lasting solution to our banking problems, be more transparent in relation to pricing of distressed assets, and be far more likely to produce a banking system free from
7250-602: The IMF had told Lenihan in April 2009 that the NAMA would not lead to a significant increase in lending by the banks. The comments, which appear in internal Department of Finance documents released under the Freedom of Information Act, were made by senior IMF official Steven Seelig who joined the board of NAMA in May 2010. Minutes of a private meeting at the department between Brian Lenihan and IMF officials on 29 April 2009 last state that
7375-561: The International Financial Services Summit (IFSS) in Dublin on 5 November 2009, two leading economists expressed caution on NAMA. Professor Nouriel Roubini , Professor at New York University Stern School of Business said that: It is essential that the bad assets are taken off the balance sheets of the financial institutions and that the Government separates the good assets from the bad assets to clean up
7500-558: The Irish Government should have, in principle, gone for a good bank, not a bad bank.... The bad bank is always a bad idea because it means that the Government underwrites all the creditors and creates moral hazard." Other participants at the IFSS include Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator, Financial Times and Philip Lane, Professor of International Macroeconomics at Trinity College Dublin. In February 2010 Brian Cowen defended his claim that
7625-549: The Irish language policy followed by Irish governments as a "complete and absolute disaster". The Irish Times , referring to his analysis published in the Irish language newspaper Foinse , quoted him as follows: "It is an absolute indictment of successive Irish Governments that at the foundation of the Irish State there were 250,000 fluent Irish speakers living in Irish-speaking or semi Irish-speaking areas, but
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#17327767998457750-452: The Master SPV as a Financial Institution; the likely impact of this classification could be that the debt issued by the SPV, guaranteed by the Irish government, would not be classified as part of the national debt of Ireland by Eurostat. In a letter dated 16 October 2009, Eurostat gave a preliminary view. The letter stated that NAMA is to be treated as part of the government sector, the type of assets to be purchased cannot be expanded without
7875-399: The Master SPV, the equity investors would only be repaid their capital if the Master SPV has the resources; they would receive a further equity bonus of 10% of the capital if the Master SPV makes a profit; All other profits and gains of the Master SPV would accrue to NAMA. Former Finance Minister, the late Brian Lenihan believed that pension funds could be the most appropriate investors in
8000-473: The NAMA would increase the supply of credit into the economy despite the International Monetary Fund (IMF) saying it would not lead to any significant increase. "People should contemplate what level of credit accessibility we'd have in this economy without NAMA," he said. "It's not just sufficient in itself obviously for credit flow, it's certainly an important and necessary part of restructuring our banking system, of that there's no doubt, in terms of improving as
8125-620: The Republic of Ireland ), new appointees to the Civil Service of the Republic of Ireland , including postal workers , tax collectors , agricultural inspectors, Garda Síochána (police), etc., were required to have some proficiency in Irish. By law, a Garda who was addressed in Irish had to respond in Irish as well. In 1974, in part through the actions of protest organisations like the Language Freedom Movement ,
8250-446: The SPV would be classified in national accounts. NAMA arranged and supervised the identification and valuation of property-backed loans on the books of qualifying financial institutions in Ireland, but the purchase and management of these loans were the responsibility of the SPV. The SPV has a majority of private equity . It funds the purchase of the loan books from financial institutions by issuing securities, most of which are backed by
8375-497: The SPV. The annual dividend, should one be paid, is to be capped at the 10-year Irish Government bond yield at the time the dividend is declared. Lenihan said he was confident that the €51m could be found from suitable investors because of the similarity of the SPV investment to a government bond . In its analysis, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) requested that NAMA be classified as a Government Entity and
8500-514: The USSR . However, nationalization is not a specifically socialist strategy, and Marxism's founders were skeptical of its value. As Engels put it: Therein precisely lies the rub; for, so long as the propertied classes remain at the helm, nationalisation never abolishes exploitation but merely changes its form — in the French, American or Swiss republics no less than in monarchist Central, and despotic Eastern, Europe. Nikolai Bukharin also criticised
8625-509: The approval of the European Commission , that it be a temporary scheme and that the size of potential losses be small relative to the total liabilities. Eurostat noted that the Minister for Finance will examine at the end of 2012 whether NAMA has met its objectives and decide if its continuation is justified. It suggested that a detailed analysis has to be carried out, especially of the guarantee arrangements. It made no judgement on
8750-504: The architect of NAMA, both accept that this is a massive gamble. Taxpayers are right to ask why Fianna Fáil is so keen to gamble with their money without asking the banks, bondholders and institutional investors to take their fair share of the pain. In dealing with the banking crisis, the objective must be to minimise the risk to taxpayers and to get credit flowing to businesses and homebuyers. NAMA achieves neither of these objectives. It won't get credit flowing and it exposes taxpayers to all of
8875-693: The beginning of the following academic year. For a number of years there has been vigorous debate in political, academic and other circles about the failure of most students in English-medium schools to achieve competence in Irish, even after fourteen years of teaching as one of the three main subjects. The concomitant decline in the number of traditional native speakers has also been a cause of great concern. In 2007, filmmaker Manchán Magan found few Irish speakers in Dublin , and faced incredulity when trying to get by speaking only Irish in Dublin. He
9000-596: The borrower does not benefit, as he/she must pay the saving to the counter-party of the swap agreement. Given the decline in interest rates over the last 2 years (e.g. the US Federal Funds Rate was 0.25% in late September 2009 versus 5.25% in August 2007), there may be a significant liability relating to the €14.7bn derivative portfolio. The Draft NAMA Business Plan does not elaborate on the magnitude of this liability, however, it states: "These derivatives change
9125-419: The commercial loans. These loans were transferred to NAMA as well. The nominal value of this derivative portfolio was €14.7 billion. Developers and other borrowers in real-estate transactions are often required by lenders to enter into derivative transactions as part of a loan agreement, as a mechanism to fix the interest rate on the loan. Typically, interest rate swap agreements are used. If interest rates fall,
9250-402: The concerns over price levels. In particular, given the debate on domestic competitiveness versus other countries, Ireland may experience real-exchange rate depreciation, which could have a drag effect of nominal property value. He said, "it is important that the NAMA process to recognise the inevitability of such uncertainty in the determining of long-term economic values". As a result, he favours
9375-402: The courts to restructure any financial body in any way in secret at any time, and as a general guarantee to protect the parent banks remains in place (see the covered institutions below), the international rating agencies consider NAMA's debts to be a part of Irish government debt. Besides, NAMA's directors on the SPV board "will maintain a veto over all decisions of the Board that could affect
9500-572: The covered institutions could be a write-down of both their Tier 1 capital and Risk-weighted assets of €14bn in aggregate. Assuming a 1-for-1 write-down of €14bn in the risk weighted assets and the same of the Tier 1 capital, the new ratio would be 4.2% with risk weighted assets of €349bn and Tier 1 capital of €15bn. Assuming the transfer value was at the market-value estimate of €47bn, not €54bn, then Tier 1 capital could fall by €21bn not €14bn. Risk weighted assets could be €342bn and Tier 1 capital €8bn, with
9625-523: The draft NAMA business plan but stated that the presence of market investors is reassuring to it (those providing 51% of the equity in the SPV). Their preliminary conclusion is that the Master SPV may be classified as a financial corporation . However, this is a preliminary view and is subject to revision. The three investors owning 51% of the SPV were revealed by the Minister of Finance in April 2010, and in NAMA's June 2010 business plan: Each provided €17m for
9750-408: The economic framework, organizational structure, and institutions of an economy on a socialist basis. By contrast, nationalization does not necessarily imply social ownership and the restructuring of the economic system . Historically, states have carried out nationalizations for various different purposes under a wide variety of different political systems and economic systems . Nationalization
9875-474: The end of the famine, and under 17,000 by 1911. Irish is recognised by the Constitution of Ireland as the national and first official language of Republic of Ireland (English being the other official language). Despite this, almost all government business and legislative debate is conducted in English. In 1938, the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League), Douglas Hyde , was inaugurated as
10000-547: The financial system.... But if it does it in such a way that implies it is buying these assets at overpriced prices that does not reflect the underlying value, then it is giving a big subsidy to the bank shareholders and the unsecured creditors." Professor Willem Buiter , Professor of political economy at the London School of Economics and former member of the UK Monetary Policy Committee, said:
10125-560: The first President of Ireland . The record of his delivering his inaugural Declaration of Office in Roscommon Irish is one of only a few recordings of that dialect. In the 2016 census, 10.5% of respondents stated that they spoke Irish, either daily or weekly, while over 70,000 people (4.2%) speak it as a habitual daily means of communication. From the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 (see History of
10250-443: The full term appearing only shortly before, with the concept of LTEV being invented primarily to give political cover for paying from taxpayers' funds, a price in excess of the market value of assets. Problems relating to paying the notional long-term economic value (rather than market value) for the loans to be transferred to NAMA were highlighted by the difficulties of Liam Carroll 's Zoe Developments. In July 2009, Zoe Developments,
10375-496: The funding positions of the banks "so that they can lend to viable businesses and households". The IMF estimated in their published report the domestic banks would face losses of up to €35 billion, though the department pointed out this would be partly funded from operating profits and provisions already taken against some loan losses. On 16 September 2009, NAMA published Supplementary Data Document that contained high level statistic on NAMA, data on property yields, and information on
10500-504: The government would insist on taking an equity stake in the lenders. Economist Peter Bacon , who was appointed by the government to advise on solutions to the banking crisis, said the new agency had potential to bring a better economic solution to the banking crisis and was preferable to nationalising the banks. The assets were to be purchased by using government bonds , which led to a significant increase in Ireland's gross national debt . The Bill provided for NAMA to be established on
10625-496: The government's stake from a minority 49 percent to a majority to 66 percent. The National Treasury Management Agency published details on NAMA in a press release dated 8 April 2009. The draft bill was published on 30 July 2009 for public consultation. Following the consultation process, the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) Bill 2009 was published on 10 September 2009. The bill was debated in
10750-539: The interest rate structure of the underlying loans and their mark-to-market value will be incorporated into the valuation of the loans". Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family . It is a member of the Goidelic language group of
10875-433: The interests of NAMA or of the Irish government." Following the acquisition of Allied Irish Banks by the Irish government the SPV stakeholding was sold to South African investor Prestige. In April 2012, the stakeholding in the SPV belonging to Irish Life Investment Managers was sold on the order of the minister for finance, Michael Noonan, to an undisclosed investor. These sales are necessitated by each nationalisation raising
11000-423: The lack of growth in the Irish economy. The National Asset Management Agency Bill, in its current format, applies to the six financial institutions which were covered by the Irish government's deposit guarantee scheme. Those institutions were Bank of Ireland , Allied Irish Banks , Anglo Irish Bank , EBS , Permanent TSB and Irish Nationwide . Other institutions, such as Ulster Bank , which are not covered, had
11125-716: The language family, is derived from the Old Irish term. Endonyms of the language in the various modern Irish dialects include: Gaeilge [ˈɡeːlʲɟə] in Galway, Gaeilg / Gaeilic / Gaeilig [ˈɡeːlʲəc] in Mayo and Ulster , Gaelainn / Gaoluinn [ˈɡeːl̪ˠən̠ʲ] in West/Cork, Kerry Munster , as well as Gaedhealaing in mid and East Kerry/Cork and Waterford Munster to reflect local pronunciation. Gaeilge also has
11250-410: The language was in use by all classes, Irish being an urban as well as a rural language. This linguistic dynamism was reflected in the efforts of certain public intellectuals to counter the decline of the language. At the end of the 19th century, they launched the Gaelic revival in an attempt to encourage the learning and use of Irish, although few adult learners mastered the language. The vehicle of
11375-425: The language. For most of recorded Irish history , Irish was the dominant language of the Irish people , who took it with them to other regions , such as Scotland and the Isle of Man , where Middle Irish gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx . It was also, for a period, spoken widely across Canada , with an estimated 200,000–250,000 daily Canadian speakers of Irish in 1890. On the island of Newfoundland ,
11500-455: The last year against loan impairments and giving the split of the €77bn of prospective loans for transfer to NAMA. However, the data point of the current net book value of the loan portfolios and the prospective transfer price for the portfolios by each of the 6 covered institutions was omitted. In addition to the potential loan book transfer to NAMA, the Draft NAMA Business Plan outlined the existence of over 1,000 derivative positions attached to
11625-471: The long-term economic value being a function of both nominal price levels and the real (inflation-adjusted) economic value of property. The real economic value of property is further defined as a function of numerous factors including, but not limited to: real disposable income per capita; the level of long-term interest rates; the size of the population, and; the demographic structure of the population. On implementation of long-term economic value, Lane highlights
11750-582: The mid-18th century, English was becoming a language of the Catholic middle class, the Catholic Church and public intellectuals, especially in the east of the country. Increasingly, as the value of English became apparent, parents sanctioned the prohibition of Irish in schools. Increasing interest in emigrating to the United States and Canada was also a driver, as fluency in English allowed
11875-770: The motivations of the nationalizing party. Nationalization was employed towards the Panama Canal by the Panamanian Government, which came under the Panama Canal Authority in 1999, to internationally positive effect. Likewise, the Suez Canal was nationalized multiple times throughout history. In Germany, the Federal Press [ Bundesdruckerei ] was nationalized in 2008 with positive revenue and net income since. Expropriation
12000-804: The name of the language is Gaeilge , from the South Connacht form, spelled Gaedhilge prior the spelling reform of 1948, which was originally the genitive of Gaedhealg , the form used in Classical Gaelic . The modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent ⟨dh⟩ in Gaedhilge . Older spellings include Gaoidhealg [ˈɡeːʝəlˠəɡ] in Classical Gaelic and Goídelc [ˈɡoiðʲelɡ] in Old Irish . Goidelic , used to refer to
12125-434: The nationalization of key services such as water, bus, railways and broadband in the United Kingdom could save £13bn every year. Nationalization may produce other effects, such as reducing competition in the marketplace, which in turn reduces incentives to innovation and maintains high prices. In the short run, nationalization can provide a larger revenue stream for government but may cause that industry to falter depending on
12250-469: The new immigrants to get jobs in areas other than farming. An estimated one quarter to one third of US immigrants during the Great Famine were Irish speakers. Irish was not marginal to Ireland's modernisation in the 19th century, as is often assumed. In the first half of the century there were still around three million people for whom Irish was the primary language, and their numbers alone made them
12375-655: The number now is between 20,000 and 30,000." In the 1920s, when the Irish Free State was founded, Irish was still a vernacular in some western coastal areas. In the 1930s, areas where more than 25% of the population spoke Irish were classified as Gaeltacht . Today, the strongest Gaeltacht areas, numerically and socially, are those of South Connemara , the west of the Dingle Peninsula , and northwest Donegal, where many residents still use Irish as their primary language. These areas are often referred to as
12500-425: The option to join the scheme. Ulster Bank eventually decided not to do so; its parent company Royal Bank of Scotland having joined the analogous UK scheme earlier in 2009. Then- Minister for Finance , Brian Lenihan said the banks would have to assume significant losses when the loans, largely made to property developers , are removed from their books. If such losses resulted in the banks needing more capital, then
12625-503: The other official language, if not already passed in both official languages. In November 2016, RTÉ reported that over 2.3 million people worldwide were learning Irish through the Duolingo app. Irish president Michael D. Higgins officially honoured several volunteer translators for developing the Irish edition, and said the push for Irish language rights remains an "unfinished project". There are rural areas of Ireland where Irish
12750-478: The outcome of which will have considerable effects on NAMA's future operations. Despite this early criticism, as of year end 2018, NAMA had recovered €37.4bn from its owned assets and projected that it would eventually generate a net surplus of €4bn. And as of September 2021, NAMA had delivered a total surplus of €2.75bn to the Department of Finance, and projected that its final net surplus would be €4.65bn. As
12875-557: The political party holding power in the Stormont Parliament , the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), was hostile to the language. The context of this hostility was the use of the language by nationalists. In broadcasting, there was an exclusion on the reporting of minority cultural issues, and Irish was excluded from radio and television for almost the first fifty years of the previous devolved government. After
13000-492: The relationship between the three Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx). Gaelic is a collective term for the Goidelic languages, and when the context is clear it may be used without qualification to refer to each language individually. When the context is specific but unclear, the term may be qualified, as Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic or Manx Gaelic. Historically the name "Erse" ( / ɜːr s / URS )
13125-432: The requirement for entrance to the public service was changed to proficiency in just one official language. Nevertheless, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools in the Republic of Ireland that receive public money (see Education in the Republic of Ireland ). Teachers in primary schools must also pass a compulsory examination called Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge . As of 2005, Garda Síochána recruits need
13250-647: The revival was the Gaelic League ( Conradh na Gaeilge ), and particular emphasis was placed on the folk tradition, which in Irish is particularly rich. Efforts were also made to develop journalism and a modern literature. Although it has been noted that the Catholic Church played a role in the decline of the Irish language before the Gaelic Revival, the Protestant Church of Ireland also made only minor efforts to encourage use of Irish in
13375-469: The risk." Fine Gael instead proposed a 'national recovery bank'. Then- Labour Party Enterprise spokesperson and former Finance Minister Ruairi Quinn accused the Government of "proposing to establish the biggest property company in the world and asking taxpayers to foot the bill and bear all the risk." He stated that "this Bill will be one of the most important pieces of legislation ever to have come before Dáil Éireann. There will be enormous consequences for
13500-634: The share prices of Irish banks, which were low in March 2009 but have risen since. Critics say that this is a circular argument ; were the expected discount 50% or more, the banks' share prices would have collapsed. In early September 2009 Minister Lenihan pointed to this rise in share prices as positive news: "... markets have assessed that information in the context of their current share price and rating agencies have used it in their assessment of these institutions." Should an independent NAMA valuation be too low, Lenihan said: "I can give directions to NAMA to have
13625-469: The six covered institutions. The supplemental data indicated the book-value of the loans expected to be transferred to NAMA by the six covered institutions (Bank of Ireland, Allied Irish Banks, Anglo Irish Bank, EBS, Permanent TSB, Irish Nationwide) was €68bn. The suggested transfer value was €54bn, with the estimated market value at €47bn. In addition to the supplementary data document, the Department of Finance published incremental data on 13 October 2009 in
13750-442: The support of AIB and Bank of Ireland for such an appointment. Receivers have been appointed after a Supreme Court appeal failed. A deficit of €900m versus loans of €1.2bn if realised would imply a market value of 25% of loan value for Zoe Developments. On 9 September 2009, economist Philip Lane of Trinity College Dublin published a paper on Estimating Long Term Economic Value . Using economic theory and formulae, Lane describes
13875-526: The taxpayer if the government get it wrong." Labour instead has proposed the temporary nationalisation of the banks. A commentary signed by leading academics also questioned the NAMA strategy. They wrote in The Irish Times that they saw ...nationalisation as being the inevitable consequence of a required recapitalisation of the banks done on terms that are fair for the taxpayer. We can summarise our arguments in favour of nationalisation, and against
14000-477: The time of its formation) and some economists criticising the approach, including Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz who has said that the Irish government is "squandering" public money with its plan to bail out the banks. One year after NAMA's establishment, the Irish government was compelled for other but similar reasons to seek a European Union-International Monetary Fund bailout in November 2010,
14125-512: The toxic reputation that our current financial institutions have deservedly earned. The criticisms were disputed by the Government. Then- Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan defended the creation of the agency saying it was not a bailout for the banks, one of the charges made against it. On 7 October 2009, Professor Joseph Stiglitz , winner of the Nobel Prize in economics and former chief economist of
14250-434: The uncertainty around the true value of their assets, their stock is in too little demand for a general share issuance to be a viable option. The banks are also suffering a liquidity crisis due, in part, to their lack of suitable collateral for European Central Bank repo loans . Along with their capital requirement problems, this is limiting the banks' ability to offer credit to their customers and, in turn, contributing to
14375-726: The vacancy to which they are appointed. This requirement is laid down by the University College Galway Act, 1929 (Section 3). In 2016, the university faced controversy when it announced the planned appointment of a president who did not speak Irish. Misneach staged protests against this decision. The following year the university announced that Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh , a fluent Irish speaker, would be its 13th president. He assumed office in January 2018; in June 2024, he announced he would be stepping down as president at
14500-594: The work of such writers as Geoffrey Keating , is said to date from the 17th century, and was the medium of popular literature from that time on. From the 18th century on, the language lost ground in the east of the country. The reasons behind this shift were complex but came down to a number of factors: The change was characterised by diglossia (two languages being used by the same community in different social and economic situations) and transitional bilingualism (monoglot Irish-speaking grandparents with bilingual children and monoglot English-speaking grandchildren). By
14625-520: The €54 billion estimated "long-term economic value" and the €47 billion "current market value". Lenihan noted that the additional €4-7 billion would be an incremental investment in the banks rather than a higher payment for the loans. The agency has been the subject of major criticism in both politics and academia. At the time of its establishment, then- Fine Gael Enterprise, Trade and Employment spokesperson, Leo Varadkar , said of NAMA: "( Fianna Fáil and government minister) Willie O'Dea and Peter Bacon,
14750-465: Was 1,873,997, representing 40% of respondents, but of these, 472,887 said they never spoke it and a further 551,993 said they only spoke it within the education system. Linguistic analyses of Irish speakers are therefore based primarily on the number of daily users in Ireland outside the education system, which in 2022 was 20,261 in the Gaeltacht and 51,707 outside it, totalling 71,968. In response to
14875-531: Was also sometimes used in Scots and then in English to refer to Irish; as well as Scottish Gaelic. Written Irish is first attested in Ogham inscriptions from the 4th century AD, a stage of the language known as Primitive Irish . These writings have been found throughout Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. Primitive Irish underwent a change into Old Irish through the 5th century. Old Irish, dating from
15000-609: Was enacted 1 July 2019 and is an 18-page document that adheres to the guidelines of the Official Languages Act 2003 . The purpose of the Scheme is to provide services through the mediums of Irish and/or English. According to the Department of the Taoiseach, it is meant to "develop a sustainable economy and a successful society, to pursue Ireland's interests abroad, to implement the Government's Programme and to build
15125-610: Was establishing itself as the primary language. Irish speakers had first arrived in Australia in the late 18th century as convicts and soldiers, and many Irish-speaking settlers followed, particularly in the 1860s. New Zealand also received some of this influx. Argentina was the only non-English-speaking country to receive large numbers of Irish emigrants, and there were few Irish speakers among them. Nationalising Nationalization ( nationalisation in British English )
15250-436: Was one of the major mechanisms advocated by reformist socialists and social democrats for gradually transitioning to socialism. In this context, the goals of nationalization were to dispossess large capitalists, redirect the profits of industry to the public purse, and establish some form of workers' self-management as a precursor to the establishment of a socialist economic system. Although sometimes undertaken as part of
15375-474: Was passed 14 July 2003 with the main purpose of improving the number and quality of public services delivered in Irish by the government and other public bodies. Compliance with the Act is monitored by the An Coimisinéir Teanga (Irish Language Commissioner) which was established in 2004 and any complaints or concerns pertaining to the Act are brought to them. There are 35 sections included in
15500-693: Was spoken throughout Ireland, Isle of Man and parts of Scotland . It is the language of a large corpus of literature, including the Ulster Cycle . From the 12th century, Middle Irish began to evolve into modern Irish in Ireland, into Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and into the Manx language in the Isle of Man . Early Modern Irish , dating from the 13th century, was the basis of the literary language of both Ireland and Gaelic-speaking Scotland. Modern Irish, sometimes called Late Modern Irish, as attested in
15625-442: Was unable to accomplish some everyday tasks, as portrayed in his documentary No Béarla . There is, however, a growing body of Irish speakers in urban areas, particularly in Dublin. Many have been educated in schools in which Irish is the language of instruction. Such schools are known as Gaelscoileanna at primary level. These Irish-medium schools report some better outcomes for students than English-medium schools. In 2009,
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