Sued over €1.2m debt... Gay’s latest ordeal
GAY Byrne and family are being sued over a €1.2million boomtime debt that is rising at a rate of €226 a day.
Last night, Ireland’s most popular broadcaster spoke briefly to the Irish Daily Mail about the ordeal, saying only that it would ‘take its course’.
The 82-year-old, who is already facing the trauma of being treated for prostate cancer, is being sued for the immediate repayment of the money after he and his family invested in property at the height of the boom.
The legal action, against Gay, his wife Kathleen and daughters, Crona and Suzy, who together make up The Clonskeagh Partnership, is being taken by Feniton Property Finance.
Feniton bought Gaybo’s Bank of Scotland (Ireland) loans in 2015 after that bank stopped operating here. The claim is that the Byrne family group borrowed €1million from Bank of Scotland (Ireland) to invest in a property fund linked to leading property financier Derek Quinlan in August 2007. It said the loan, which was for six years, should have been paid in August 2013.
The debt has now risen to €1.226million with interest, which is accruing at a rate of more than €226 a day.
Last night, when contacted by the Irish Daily Mail, Mr Byrne said he was unable to comment on the case.
However, he added: ‘I’ve nothing to say about it whatsoever. It’s six years in the gestation and it’ll take its course.’ In the High Court’s fast-track commercial wing yesterday, which generally only deals with cases worth €1million or more, Judge Brian McGovern set January 11 next for a full hearing of the case.
Paul Gardiner SC, for Feniton, said the Byrne family were ‘consenting’ to the case being dealt with by the High Court’s commercial division – as opposed to the far slower option of putting the case into general High Court listings.
In its court action, lawyers for Feniton claimed that Mr Byrne’s Clonskeagh Partnership ‘has failed, refused and/or neglected to make the repayments required’.
Mr Byrne is no stranger to legal wrangles involving property-related investments. In June, he settled a High Court case over a ‘pension-type’ investment he made in a €13.5million property through another (non-family) syndicate he’s involved in, the Firstwood Partnership.