The loans were controlled by the state bank Nama which sold them to Cerberus, a US equity firm

Home loans being purchased by a state agency from a private equity fund were already offered to it three years ago, The Times can confirm.

The Housing Agency, a state body, is set to acquire loans attached to almost 200 buy-to-let properties from Cerberus, a US private equity fund. The units are to be used as social housing.

A total of 23 of the properties were once controlled by Nama, the state bad bank, but were sold to Cerberus in 2015.

It has been revealed that four of the homes being acquired from Cerberus were already offered by Nama to the Housing Agency in 2015.

The latest deal has been criticised by Michael McGrath, finance spokesman for Fianna Fáil, and Eoin Ó Broin, Sinn Féin’s