ORR Business Seminar
“NAMA is an impediment to progress” said David McWilliams at a business breakfast hosted by O’Rourke Reid Law Firm entitled “Recession: Risk or Opportunity”. He stated that as no-one knows what NAMA is going to do there is a lack of proper transparent decision making. He went on to note “you can’t legislate a price, for that you need a market”. McWilliams a leading economist said that there is no economic textbook that tells you that you can tax and de-leverage a way out of the current recession. He warned that Ireland cannot get out of this problem without inflating the debt away and for that we need to change the exchange rate – this would mean exiting EMU.
He noted that there was as much influence at the seminar as there was in any room in the country and felt that Ireland has an abundance of talent but this talent base requires leadership.
Bobby Kerr, CEO of Insomnia and panellist from Dragon’s Den reminded the audience that in the present market “value is king” and that “if you are not giving value, you are not going to stay in business”. He said “the property market is crazy and landlords need to get real: rents will have to come down”. Kerr asked “will the banks support us”? If the banks and rents did not change, he predicted that some coffee shops would close but believed Insomnia would not be one of them.
Harry Slowey, Director Finance One, noted that there would be no new net growth in borrowing over the next four years and that credit would be funded solely out of redemptions. The pendulum of borrowing had swung from an extreme credit position to an extreme debt position. In the future, “debt was on a one way track upwards.” Loan to value ratios would be much lower with higher equity contributions.
The seminar played host to over 130 leading business figures from a variety of industries.
