The presentations at the Cantillon School by NAMA CEO Brendan McDonagh and at the Fianna Fail think-in in Galway by NAMA Chairman Frank Daly are available online.
I don’t have time to discuss these presentations today but I would refer anyone interested in NAMA to the always excellent NAMA Wine Lake blog. How our friend Mr. Singh finds the time to keep on top of it all is a mystery but, however he does it, we are very lucky to have him.
Alanna Gallagher has a piece on the impact of the Luas on house prices in today’s Times. It’s a mix of facts and anecdotes that reminds us of some of the positive effects of proper public transport in a city. At the same time, the fact that people are willing to pay a hefty premium for being near a Luas station reflects badly on transport options in the rest of Dublin.
Eoin Dorgan’s letter in the FT this morning provides a useful reminder of the distribution of assets in the Irish banking system. Monday’s FT article used the Central Bank data on ‘domestic credit market institutions’ – the total assets of this group stood at €776 billion at end June. Eoin Dorgan points out that the total assets of the ‘six domestically owned banks’ (I presume he means the six institutions covered by the guarantee) was €523 billion at end June. The non-covered institutions (Ulster Bank, Danske, Bank of Scotland Ireland etc) account for one third of total assets and any comprehensive analysis of the expansion, collapse and restructuring of the Irish banking system needs to incorporate this category.
The full list of domestic credit market institutions is available here.
The FT is full of depressing news stories this morning, none of which are surprising.
In the US, a Tea Party candidate won the Republican nomination for the Senate elections in Delaware.
In France, Sarkozy suggested that Luxembourg (home of the Commissioner who sharply criticized him for the Roma expulsions) would do well to welcome a few Roma itself.
In Sweden, the Sweden Democrats, a party with roots in the neo-Nazi movement, may be on the brink of an electoral breakthrough that might see it hold the balance of power after the elections there.
And the Japanese decision to weaken the yen is provoking tension with Europeans and Americans.
Lots of zero sum thinking out there this morning: history rhyming.
THE and QS are now divorced, so more rankings for all.
The Times Higher Education ranking is out too (the number in brackets is QS):
TCD: 72 (52)
UCD: 94 (114)
Cork: >199 (184)
Numbers 200-399 can only be had with an iPhone.
The THE ranking is of course far superior than the QS ranking because the Vrije U Amsterdam does much better according to THE (139 v 171) and ranks higher than U Amsterdam.