Nama Land: Lifting the lid on dealings of Ireland’s bad bank

A new book by journalist Frank Connolly tells the story of Nama from its origins in 2009 until today. Here he outlines why he wrote the book and what it contains.

Treasury Building in Dublin 2: the office was built by Treasury Holdings and became home to Nama Picture: Maura Hickey

Tracking the work of Nama from its birth in the traumatic period following the 2008 property and financial crash, and the infamous bailout, involved thorough research into the management and disposal of the distressed loan books of more than €74 billion transferred from five major Irish banks at the sharply discounted figure of €31.8 billion.

From the outset, the embattled Fianna Fáil-led government, and former finance minister Brian Lenihan in particular, ignored the ...