The 11 little words tucked away at the bottom of NAMA’s aims as set out in section 2 of the NAMA Act have yet again come back to bite the Agency on the bum. This week, it is a community group from Granard in county Longford that is aiming to take a bite out of NAMA’s portfolio by lobbying for a 15-acre parcel of land plus two commercial buildings just south of Granard on the Edgeworthstown road. The group – pictured here demonstrating outside the property – is led by Granard parish priest Father Simon Cadam, and they hope to use the property to generate 10 jobs and to stimulate local tourism. The Longford Leader reports that the group hopes to create what they call an “interpretative centre” to support the tourism drive – an interpretative centre is a place which promotes information on local heritage.

So why is the group at loggerheads with NAMA? NAMA, it seems, is going to put the property up for auction, but the group had hoped that they could have bought it directly. NAMA says that it must secure the best possible price for the property whereas the group says that NAMA should be supporting the economic and social development of the area. Implicit in all of this is the assumption that NAMA thinks it can get a better price for the property at auction or is sufficiently concerned that it may not be getting the best price from the community group.

Of course NAMA hasn’t exactly helped its severe stance with the community group by having previously donated a €300,000 painting to the National Gallery describing the donation as “a goodwill gesture to the National Gallery and to the Irish people to offer the National Gallery one piece of art from the collection for free given the fact that they advised it was of importance to the heritage of Ireland” What does NAMA now say to the people of Granard who would now appear to be seeking “a goodwill gesture”.

It seems that the community group will make a submission to NAMA tomorrow 26th April, presumably in the hope that the auction will be cancelled and the property sold to the community group. The property appears to be listed on the latest NAMA foreclosure list as a “Development – Not Commenced” and “Agricultural Land” in Rathcronan and Ballymacross in Granard. Groups elsewhere in Ireland will be watching to see how NAMA deals with this property.

UPDATE: 19th May, 2012. It seems that the local Granard community group has submitted a bid worth €265,000 to NAMA for the 15-acres and two commercial units, and it is claimed this is the highest bid. The group is critical of NAMA and claims that NAMA is not fulfilling its commercial remit, a charge NAMA rejects. The financing for the bid is unclear and there is reference to unspecified grants and funding from a “social investment organisation, Clann Credo”