IRELAND IS in danger of following Iceland into financial crisis within six months if a solution is not found to our current banking problems, according to developer Seán Dunne.
Mr Dunne said business people were "far from impressed" at the way the problem was being dealt with by the Government. People were struggling to save their businesses on all fronts, not just in construction, and many were unable to access money.
The financial problems afflicting Ireland and other countries "started at the far side of the world" and were now in every corner of it, he said. The banking fraternity, rather than politicians, were the right people to deal with them. "The knowledge to solve this problem does not reside in Tullamore, Donegal or Castleknock; it's probably not at the Cabinet table or even in the Dáil. It needs business people with business acumen, people who started with zero and know how to maintain a business," Mr Dunne told the Marian Finucane Showon RTÉ Radio 1.
He denied that, as a major property developer, he was in any way responsible for the banking crisis or had acted recklessly. Neither of the two big purchases he had made in Ballsbridge involved reckless borrowing or reckless banking, he said. Some €200 million of the €600 million purchase price for the sites came from his own money and equity: "A deal where a developer is putting up 35-40 per cent of his own money is normally considered good banking in any jurisdiction."
Mr Dunne said he was lucky when buying in Ballsbridge, in that he was "first in". Even if land prices fell back by half from their peak, they would still only be at the level of € 66-67 million an acre at which he had bought in.
Rejecting the views of economists on the causes of the financial crisis, he said his views came from "the university of life" and building sites "where people learn from an early age to put two and two together and make four". A decision on his appeal to An Bord Pleanála over his plans for redeveloping the Jurys/Doyle's hotel site in Ballsbridge is not due until June, he added.
Another property developer, Paddy Kelly, said the Government was doing a good job to secure the banking system and the savings of depositors. Irish people were capable of managing their affairs in a way that would not involve collapse, he said on Conversations with Eamon Dunphy. "We'll get over the hangover and stabilise the country," he said.
Mr Kelly said he owed hundreds of millions to the banks but this was not a great burden on him and the general situation was not all negative.
