THE NATIONAL Asset Management Agency has welcomed the Commercial Court ruling against property investor Paddy McKillen, saying it highlights the “critical importance” of the agency’s work.

Nama chairman Frank Daly said it had been a “very significant case” and that he intended to study the decision carefully over the coming days. “However, it is clear that the decision highlights the critical importance of the work of the agency for Ireland and the extraordinary circumstances which led to its establishment.”

Mr McKillen had taken a legal challenge to stop the transfer of his bank loans to the agency.

The court ruled yesterday morning Mr McKillen had not made a substantial issue in relation to the constitutionality of the legislation establishing the agency. Nama was set up by the Government last year to take the most toxic loans out of the banking system. It is acquiring €74 billion of loans from five participating financial institutions.

The Department of Finance welcomed the ruling and described it as important. A spokesman said Nama was “a key element in resolving the crisis in the financial sector” and its work had continued throughout the case taken by Mr McKillen.

Mr Daly said Nama would continue to focus on the task in hand, which is to complete the acquisition of eligible assets from participating financial institutions and “maximising the return for the Irish taxpayer” from those debtors whose loans the agency had acquired. He extended his appreciation to the Attorney General Paul Gallagher, who represented the State, the Chief State Solicitor’s Office and Nama executives for the “huge amount of work” they put into defending the agency and the Act under which it was established.