A Celtic Tiger player, his alluring wife and a battle with the banks over €4m loan
IT’S yet another Celtic Tiger quandary that has landed in the Four Courts, one that involves all the key components from an era of excess: fashion, property, socialites and showmanship.
Married to former model Sonia Reynolds, high-flying solicitor Barry Lyons’s claim to fame was brokering one of the biggest Irish property deals and helping businesses deal with insolvency.
Now he finds himself being pursued through the courts for allegedly failing to repay a €4.7m bank loan.
According to Allied Irish Bank, they gave Mr Lyons and a third party a loan in 2011 which was to be repaid three years later. However, the bank claims the entire sum remains unpaid and outstanding. Last Monday, their case against the Dublin solicitor was fast-tracked into the Commercial Court with Mr Lyons’s consent even though he is disputing the bank’s claims.
Meanwhile, his business associate with whom he got the loan has opted for the personal insolvency route and the bank has not taken any action against this unnamed third party.
By any standards, it is a dramatic turn of events. And for a southside Dubliner, who whiled away his summers sailing private yachts, one he surely never countenanced.
But nevertheless few – with maybe the exception of Mr Lyons and his steadfastly loyal wife – are surprised by the apparent fall in business fortunes for the man, who once loudly boasted about buying a property portfolio worth, in his own estimation, €300m-€400m.
A former business colleague explained: ‘Barry’s first job was working as a waiter in Wolfman Jack’s, which was a trendy night spot back in the day in Rathmines. After Barry qualified as a solicitor he set up a practice and then decided to become an entrepreneur.
‘Like a lot of people, he decided that he was a property developer and speculator – and even though you could only admire his spirit, I could never see him getting the results to match the entrepreneurial skill he claimed to have.
‘He certainly never lacked ambition, but from what I could see, that ambition was never fulfilled.
‘He was the typical Celtic Tiger cub… You’d ring up the office only to be told that he wasn’t around because he was sailing in Fort Lauderdale or somewhere. But he kept that Celtic Cub persona going on for much longer than others. As for that property deal he claimed to be the biggest ever in Ireland, that was a load of nonsense.’
Meanwhile, unlike most legal eagles who prefer anonymity, he enjoys the limelight. Throughout the late Nineties, his courtship of model Sonia Reynolds was assiduously documented in the society pages – as was the lead-up to their wedding in July 1998. The bride’s flight to Paris for last-minute alterations to her Peter O’Brien designer dress made headlines.
A breathless news report about the happy couple’s nuptials which appeared in the Irish Times at the time deemed it to be ‘one of the biggest and most fun weddings of the year’. Meanwhile, a guest who attended the wedding of the stunning model from Lurgan, Co. Armagh, to the solicitor, recalled: ‘I remember the day well. People flew in from everywhere to be there. They were the “It-couple”… To be honest I wouldn’t have regarded myself as a particularly close friend of theirs. I would meet them out and about and have a chat with them but I was surprised to be invited. I think a lot of people felt the same way.’
And since their wedding over 18 years ago, the couple have seldom been out of the headlines. Now the parents of three children, they are still able to maintain a public profile whether it be sharing details about their personal relationship, showcasing the splendour of their striking red brick period home in leafy Rathgar or talking about their latest business venture.
After retiring from modelling, Sonia reinvented herself as an event organiser, public relations expert and fashion guru. She was involved in launching Dublin Fashion Week and organising an annual fair to showcase the work of Irish designers. But it was a property deal made in 2007 that propelled the couple from diligent networkers to power couple. And they both revelled in the ensuing publicity.
At the centre of the deal were 3,500 properties sold by businessman Peter White. Up until then, solicitor Mr Lyons had made a name for himself as a rescuer of ailing companies. But when he acquired this portfolio he added property developer and speculator to his CV. And never one to underestimate his achievements, he deemed the purchase to be Ireland’s biggest land deal in a quarter of a century, as he estimated the properties were worth between €300m-€400m. But more experienced dealmakers saw things differently. A source familiar with the purchase described the estimate of up to €400million as ‘nonsense’.
‘What he bought was the ground rent the property was on and not the freehold, so you don’t own the property but you own the land the property is on. He bought the ground rents to these properties and the rents from them would only be worth €12-€15 each a year.
‘For him to imply that he did a big property deal is nonsense. He only bought a collection of ground rents and it was a very small money deal, it wasn’t a serious property deal at all.
The source added: ‘I wish everyone well in life but I find it hard to feel any sympathy for him now.’
Meanwhile, when prospective business clients rang Mr Lyons’s business number last week, the operator informed callers that the number had changed and offered separate phone numbers for his law practice and that of his longstanding legal partner.
And when the Irish Mail on Sunday contacted him on his new number, Mr Lyons himself answered the call – but declined to comment on his ongoing travails.
‘They were Dublin’s It-couple ‘It wasn’t a serious property deal at all’