A Meath developer saw a €14 million Nama claim wiped after the High Court approved a personal insolvency plan that will pay Nama just €37,000, court filings show. The plan lists total liabilities of €14.6 million, of which €14 million was owed to the National Asset Management Agency. The scheme requires a single lump payment of about €37,000, provided by a family member, and a separate restructuring that repays a mortgage of roughly €594,000 in full. Judge Nessa Cahill sanctioned the arrangement on 23 July 2026.
Court filings show the personal insolvency plan lists total liabilities of €14.6 million, of which Nama was owed €14 million, yet Nama will receive just €37,000 under the arrangement. The €37,000 is recorded as the entirety of what Nama will receive as the unsecured payment, and the filing says that amount will be provided in a single lump sum by a family member.
Who is the debtor and what assets does he declare? The debtor is Michael Murray, 47, of Brownstown, Kilcloon, County Meath, who was a director of several development companies during the Celtic Tiger era. The filings value his family home at €750,000 and list a monthly income of €2,477 against reasonable living expenses of €2,188. This papers note the development companies traded successfully until the 2008 crash and were later placed into receivership.
What happens to secured creditors and the family home? A secured mortgage debt of about €594,000 relating to Murray’s family home is owed to Pepper Finance Corporation (Ireland) DAC.
The approved arrangement restructures that mortgage so the secured debt will be repaid in full, and the filings record a €200,000 lump-sum contribution from the same family member applied toward the mortgage.
How was the case presented to the court and who acted for Murray? The personal insolvency process was managed by personal insolvency practitioner Gary Digney, with legal representation listed as barrister Keith Farry and solicitors Nicola Nevin & Co.
The court papers repeat Nama’s origin story: it was established after the 2008 global financial crisis to take over risky commercial property loans from Irish banks. This High Court approval was sought and sanctioned under the personal insolvency framework reflected in the filings.
What the arrangement does in practice is separate the unsecured Nama claim from the mortgage-secured debt. Nama accepts a small cash settlement, while the mortgage to Pepper Finance is reworked and funded in part by a larger family contribution. That split is recorded in the court documents as the concrete terms of the scheme.
Judge Nessa Cahill sanctioned the personal insolvency plan on 23 July 2026, recording €37,000 as Nama’s total unsecured payment and a €200,000 lump sum applied to the €594,000 mortgage. Originally reported by The Irish Times.
This article was created with AI assistance.
