NAMA to make 25,000 jobs with ¤2bn ghost estate plan

Claire Murphy

NAMA is to attempt to create 25,000 construction jobs with an ambitious €2bn investment in abandoned developments.

The so-called bad bank plans to revive some of the projects left derelict or unfinished after the crash with a stimulus package.

Chairman of NAMA Frank Daly said that there would be an ultimate knock-on effect of an extra 10,000 jobs in the wider economy over the next three years.

The majority -- 90pc -- of NAMA's Irish property assets are located in the greater Dublin area and in Cork, Limerick and Galway.

Mr Daly said that the agency is anticipating a supply shortage in certain sectors in the future.

"Believe it or not, that is already happening in prime office space in Dublin for example," he said.

"When you take that €2bn and look back to a number of studies that have been done, €2bn would be estimated to translate as 25,000 direct or indirect construction jobs and an additional 10,000. So that's a very sizeable figure of 35,000."

Mr Daly said that he believes there are green shoots emerging in the property market.

"We're cautiously positive about the property market," he said.

clairemurphy@herald.ie