DEVELOPER AND TD Mick Wallace caused a shock during the week when he said that ACC was charging him an incredible 20 per cent interest on some of his debts to the bank. Informed sources around Dublin pointed out this was even higher than the levels being charged for mezzanine debt, an expensive form of finance that covers the gap between the equity of the buyer and the amount of funding available from a bank for a particular deal. Rates of 12 per cent to 17 per cent were common during the boom for mezzanine finance, which was used by the likes of Bernard McNamara for the Irish Glass Bottle site and Joe O’Reilly for his Woodbrook site in south Dublin.

But market observers that we spoke to have never heard as penal a rate as that being charged by ACC. The irony is that both Nama and Bank of Scotland Ireland, which is now Certus, have been offering a type of debt forgiveness package to some customers who co-operate in the rundown of their assets, so if Wallace had banked more with them he might be in a better financial position.