The Irish Farmers Journal understands the sale of about 18,000 Permanent TSB (PTSB) loans is not linked directly to loans on farmland in Ireland.

However, some farmland could have been committed by farm families as collateral for mortgages. The value of loans is estimated at €3.7bn, with €1bn accounting for buy-to-let mortgages and €2bn accounting for private dwelling homes, which leaves around €700m for other loan types.

The proposed sale of the loans to third parties has been met with resistance from opposition parties. “We can’t say with certainty that there aren’t farm loans included in the Permanent TSB basket,” Fianna Fáil’s Michael McGrath said.

“If this sale goes ahead it’s estimated that €12-13bn worth of loans could be sold off in the future to vulture funds.”

The Department of Finance said PTSB is under obligation from the EU to reduce its non-performing loans and confirmed the sale of loans does not require Minister Paschal Donohoe’s consent.

“At 28%, PTSB’s non-performing loan ratio is one of the highest in the eurozone (five times higher than the average),” the department said. “In any loan sale, the contractual terms of borrowers, or indeed tenants, remain in place post the loan sale.”

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