How much does Mick owe?
I wouldn’t be so cynical about Mick he’s been very upfront if you follow back through his comments over time. I’m sure like everyone he’s facing a drop in business one way or the other.
He’s argued against the war in Iraq even was challnged by the city council about hoardings he erected I believe. I have some photos of these I will dig out. Openly critical of apartments being built to small.
He’s built a few bits here and there and many would say he took a more custodial roll in his duty of care with developments especially the “Italian quater” as they call it. In comparison to Carroll’s developments practically right beside its this kind of deverloper we had so very little of.
Why do you say that? It seems Mick is actually being critical of NAMA and the govt here. If the perception is that NAMA would overpay for assets then why would he criticise it? He has always seemed fairly straightforward to me.
Yes but look at his hair.
Nice to see some coverage on NAMA.
Why are Arthur Cox the adviser on NAMA? Can anyone explain to me how they are not completely conflicted? They represent Bank of Ireland and Quinlan…it is just crazy
Maybe he’s up for a wee bit of debt forgiveness instead of having NAMA chase him personally…
I’m just specu-uk-lating loike… I’m just not too sure and until I saw his books personally, I wouldn’t give any developer the BOD in an opinion piece in the MSM.
Didn’t Mick Wallace say he wasn’t paying anything back to the banks?
Whether he likes to admit it or not, he gorged himself on the construction boom as much as any other big developer.
I remember a program on Anglo a while back and this guy was one of the very few builders who slammed them for what went on.
To be fair, it sounded like he wasn’t a member of the gang and there may be some sour grapes on his part. And he is smart enough to realise he wont be a member of the gang in NAMA either.
I’m sure he’s no saint and he has an agenda.
I don’t see too many putting the country first these days whether its a bank economists talking up the property market or trade union economist talking up our ability to borrow to pay wages.
A big +1. Being a property developer isn’t unethical per se. A few more Mick Wallaces and maybe we wouldn’t be quite as far in the shitter as we are now. Comparing him to the clowns clogging up the courts is nothing short of naive
Other notable tit bits on him are the development about 18 months ago, at the height of the boom, where a religous order in Dublin sought him out specifically due to his ethics.
Ah yes, religious orders… Famous for their ethics alright, particularly with their track record in this country…
A nation of full on insane self flagellating masochists.
Uhem, I don’t see that this is relevant. Is this one of the religious orders that ethically negotiated a deal with the government a few years ago completely limiting their liability for damages in abuse cases because if it is, I have some trouble with their definition of ethics to be honest.
If the guy is a good businessman, fair enough, but I’m cynical enough of anyone writing Ochon pieces in the national press at the moment. The time to do it was 5 or 6 years ago. A lot of the problems we have now did not require hindsight to see them - they were obvious from the off.
Thank you TUG but going back on topic I would like to know the status of his loans and all the other large developers loans. If I’m picking up the tab I would like to know the guidelines behind the softly softly approach. I don’t doubt he is a stand up bloke, but if he isn’t paying his interest I want to know what is happening to it. If he has no intention of paying it, blaming the government for everything and I have to pay for it then my view of him changes. Changes quite a bit. The point is well made about the insiders in Anglo, that is why we need a general election.
The truth must out.
Agree with you but theres very very few out there who are being entirely honest or ethical in the current climate… you dont have to accept or dismiss everything
Im off to see Leonard Cohen at the weekend, thought he would have made enough money for the retirement from last year but I wont begrudge him… Anyways as the man says “there is a crack in everything… thats how the light gets in”
Probably the pyrites…or whatever it’s called 
Sometimes the content of the story is itself more important than your preconceived ideas of the individuals involved.
I’ll try and dig out the story, it was relatively small, but the gist was that was that it was some small enclosed nunnery that was closing due to lack of numbers. They went looking for someone to develop the site in as ethical a fashion as possible.
They weren’t all that concerned with his child buggering skills.
Deliberately misinterpreting someone doesn’t go down well sometimes.
I think it’s hypocritical to demand ethical standards from another party if your own record on that is questionable. Hence my interest in which order might have been involved. Do I need to spell it out? Evidently.
In any case, it still is not relevant to the question in point which is why is he writing this piece in the Irish Times.
Take in a game at Ferrycarrig Park which Wallace has developed for the Wexford Youths team, he has apparently spent €5m to date on this community project (as he describes it) as well as having financially underwritten Wexford soccer in general for the last several years. It’s a remarkable facility.
Highly respected in his locality (apart from by the GAA where the green eyed monster is very much out) for all he has done in terms of providing a sporting outlet for kids as well as the facilities themselves.
His has been an interesting model in that he has developed relatively upscale apartments in working class areas historically overlooked by the chattering classes – where they can can look incongruous relative to the shoddy developments near them. His cheap and cheerful Italian enotecas which he integrates into them look to have been generally success full too. He freely admitted at the time of the state guarantee that he wasn’t paying interest on his loans as he couldn’t afford to and questioned why the government were believing the banks line that the level of delinquincies was as low as the banks were letting on,
From the little I’ve seen of Mick Wallace, he seems to be an interesting character. He doesn’t fit the builder stereotype and seems to have a thirst for knowledge. He makes some good points in this article.
However, I think some basic aspects of credit still escapes him - though he may do this to protect his personal interests.
Firstly, borrowers have a duty to repay debts. Mick fails to address the amount of debt being taken on. He only seems to be concerned that borrowers can’t access cheap credit. He neglects to say that the ECB rate drop is greater than the margin increase.
Secondly, banks need to cover losses. Private banks aren’t charities. They’ve mispriced risk and are trying to recover.
I really don’t see why any one would have a problem with Mick Wallace because he borrowed for his business and things went sour. The people who were responsible for alowing the market to inflate were the bankers, regulators, planners and politicians.
The builders, many of whom have no third level qualifications, were always going to want the prices of properties to be higher. If we thought the builders were competent and inclined to promote sustainable development and a sustainable market then we should not have banks, bank regulation, planning regulation or building control. I know there is a big jealousy factor and huge cynicism about the planning process, but really, if the bankers had not kept throwing money at competing bidders and taking huge bonuses for the amount lent (but taking ZERO PERSONAL RISK) then we would not be where we are.
Even if you still hate the builders (and I know you do 
), I can’t see how you can knock Mick Wallace who has shown social conscience, integrity and honesty every step of the way. Mick Wallace is not part of the groupthink and is being honest with the people of Ireland as to how he sees it. Some of you guys would fight with your own brothers.
By the way there are lots of companies all over the country not paying their debts becasue they don’t have the money. That is one of the major reasons why we have companies - to promote risk taking. That is one of the reasons why banks are supposed to assess loans - becasuethere is a risk.