According to reports, the Central Bank has agreed to pay €8m for the half built building situated on the quays which was set to be the HQ of Anglo Irish Bank.
Basically, the Central Bank is buying the building where Anglo Irish Bank – the bank that pushed the country towards a bailout – was going to move to before the banking crisis blew up back in 2010. Once that happened a state of the art HQ wasn’t their top priority anymore (although, having said that, it was probably still second on the list).
A report today from business insiders Bloomberg said the Central Bank may buy the building on North Wall Quay from the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA).
”We don’t comment on speculation about individual transactions, but we’ve previously indicated that we are optimistic that we will secure a satisfactory deal in respect of this property in the medium term and that remains our position,” a spokesman for NAMA told Bloomberg.
Well that didn’t really sum things up how we would have hoped. And the comment coming from the Central Bank didn’t clear things up either.
“No deal has been finalised,” a Central Bank spokesman said. “We don’t comment on the specifics of individual negotiations.”
If the Central Bank does go ahead with the sale then we’ll see a bank buying a bank from another bank because of the banking crisis. Who’d have banked on that? No-one, apparently.
