Councillor whoowes €500,000 to lose home

DUBLIN City councillor Nial Ring and his wife Joyce have lost their family home in leafy Clontarf to Bank of Ireland Mortgage Bank.

The Rings have arrears debts totalling more than €500,000 on the family home at St Lawrence Road, Clontarf, Dublin 3.

Counsel for the bank told Judge Jacqueline Linnane in the Circuit Civil Court that Cllr Ring and his wife owed €514,817 in arrears alone on three loans.

The court heard the couple had taken out three loans in 2003 for separate amounts of €234,000; €380,000 and €486,000, a total of €1,100,000.

Repayments amounted to €8,000 a month and following default of almost €500,000, the bank had sought repayment and, in the event of failure, had warned the Rings that it would seek a possession order.

Neither Cllr Ring nor his wife was in court yesterday as Judge Linnane granted the Rings a stay of six months to find alternative accommodation or reach an acceptable arrangement with the bank.

Repayment

Counsel for the Rings asked the court for an adjournment. Cllr Ring had recently found a job as a consultant to a mine-drilling company in which US companies had a take-over interest.

Cllr Ring had made a number of monthly payments of €10,000 as a result of his new job.

Judge Linnane said she accepted some payments of €10,000 had been made, but these were not as good as they seemed in that the normal monthly repayment on the three loans was €8,000 anyway.

Granting the bank an order for possession of the property, Judge Linnane gave the couple a stay of six months on the basis €10,000 a month would continue to be paid to the bank.

In a statement, Mr Ring said: “I obviously fully accept the court’s decision and look forward to dealing with the matter speedily, professionally and in the best interests of my family.”