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 ...

Seán Dunne’s Irish bankruptcy trustee has agreed to lift a legal claim registered over a valuable Dublin 4 property which was sold for €14.2 million more than three years ago, the High Court has heard, The Irish Times reported.

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.

Seán Dunne is seeking a US injunction against his son to prevent him from accessing €14 million the bankrupt developer believes is to be used to help settle the legal liabilities of Mr Dunne’s former wife, Gayle Killilea, The Irish Times reported. Mr Dunne’s lawyer, Luke McGrath, asked a New York court late on Thursday for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction preventing his son John Dunne from accessing funds realised from the 2013 sale of Walford, once Ireland’s most expensive home, to settle the legal case.

Irish home and commercial property prices are forecast to dip slightly over the next three years, according to figures being used by European authorities to stress test banks across the EU in 2020, The Irish Times reported. The European Bank Authority, overseeing the assessment, said on Friday that its central projections were based on data received from national central banks. However, sources said that while the Irish Central Bank provided “a possible path which is based on latest trends” to European officials, it did not issue forecasts.

The difference in the figures speaks for itself: 27,792 cases of mortgage arrears where a payment has not been paid for two years or more, and 3,841 personal insolvency arrangements since 2013 where in many cases banks and other creditors agree to debt write-down deals, The Irish Times reported. Michael McNaughton, the new director of the Insolvency Service of Ireland, which overseas the State’s still-nascent insolvency regime, has called for more collaborative, imaginative engagement between debtors and personal insolvency practitioners on one side, and creditors on the other.