A lawyer for bankrupt developer Sean Dunne indicated in court papers filed late last week that his client intends to seek damages from his son John Dunne for turning over more than $12 million (€10.7 million) to the trustee in Sean Dunne’s long-running US bankruptcy case, The Irish Times reported. Attorney Luke McGrath said in the papers that he plans to file a claim seeking “money damages” against John Dunne in state court in New York City, where he lives.
Ireland
Read more
Ireland’s central bank chief has warned against starting a spending spree to address the country’s shortage of affordable housing after the problem led to a surge in support for the nationalist Sinn Féin party in elections last month, the Financial Times reported. Gabriel Makhlouf told the Financial Times that even though the Irish economy was one of the top performers in Europe last year with growth of close to 5 per cent, there were risks ahead that could cause a sharp downturn.
More than $12 million of the proceeds from the sale of Walford, once Ireland’s most expensive home, have been handed over to the trustee in one-time property mogul Sean Dunne’s US bankruptcy case, according to court papers filed on Friday, The Irish Times reported. The funds were turned over earlier this month pursuant to a proceeding in an Irish court, where Mr Dunne also faces a bankruptcy case, the filing says. It does not specify which court.
An investigation into how the son of a Co Donegal bankrupt came to own property that had formerly been owned by his father, is being conducted by the official assignee, Chris Lehane. In December last, Ms Justice Teresa Pilkington extended the bankruptcy of PJ Sweeney, of High Cairn, Ramelton, Co Donegal, to July 2025, The Irish Times reported. Mr Lehane told the judge that Mr Sweeney, who was adjudicated a bankrupt in July 2017 because of his debts to the Bank of Ireland, was not engaging with his office and had failed to produce a statement of affairs.
Ryanair’s chief commercial officer on Thursday denied any interest in buying Air Italy after press reports linking his group to the loss-making airline, which was put into liquidation by its owners earlier this week, Reuters reported. Air Italy’s owners Qatar Airways and regional carrier Alisarda blamed “persistent and structural market problems” for the decision to pull the plug on Tuesday. Asked about Italian press reports that Ryanair was preparing an offer, chief commercial officer David O’Brien said his group was not interested and had not been approached. “Let’s clear the room ...
Deal talks and a rally in defensive sectors supported European shares on Monday as investors grappled with the potential impact of the coronavirus, while Irish stocks were hit by a strong showing for the left-wing Sinn Fein in a national election, Reuters reported. The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended 0.07% higher, having marked its best week in three months as part of a broader rebound from an earlier virus-driven sell-off.
Problems that forced two Irish property investment funds to temporarily bar investors from withdrawing their cash could spread to other such companies, credit analysts warned on Wednesday. Aviva Irish Property Fund and Friends First Irish Commercial Property Fund, which hold assets totalling €940 million, recently froze withdrawals for up to six months after they were unable to meet investors’ demands for the return of their cash, The Irish Times reported.
Dublin-based Depfa Bank’s weakness as a “structurally lossmaking” business has been highlighted by two debt-ratings firms as the German government pursues a second attempt to sell the company, The Irish Times reported. “Given that Depfa’s recurring revenue is insufficient to cover its cost base, we believe that – without outside assistance – Depfa has limited scope to engineer a sustainable turnaround and will therefore likely remain lossmaking in the medium to long term, although there may be potential to reduce losses,” Moody’s said in a note published last week.
Developer Sean Dunne’s latest court filing is “a baseless ploy” aimed at sinking settlement of his long-running US bankruptcy case, and he should be sanctioned for it, his bankruptcy trustee says in court papers filed Monday, The Irish Times reported. “Your client is intentionally interfering with the trustee’s attempt to liquidate his judgment, which is based on your client’s actual fraud,” wrote trustee attorney Timothy Miltenberger in an angry letter to Mr Dunne’s lawyer, Luke McGrath. The letter was included as an attachment to the trustee’s motion to intervene in the case.