Baron of Ballsbridge in heated bust-up over bankruptcy file
Developer Seán Dunne is escorted from court off ices after a blazing row over €15 fee for document photocopy
BANKRUPT developer Seán Dunne was removed from a court building under Garda escort after an ‘aggressive’ confrontation with staff.
The incident involving the 63year-old – who earned the sobriquet Baron of Ballsbridge because of his boom-time penchant for buying land in Dublin’s most exclusive neighbourhood – happened last month after he travelled to Ireland to view his bankruptcy file.
During the course of the pre-arranged appointment, Mr Dunne’s interaction with court staff became so tense, he used his phone to photograph one of them.
Gardaí were called to the Examiner of the High Court’s public office in Smithfield, and the developer was escorted from the building by an officer based at the nearby Bridewell Garda Station.
A source familiar with the incident said: ‘Seán Dunne had an appointment to see his bankruptcy file but his behaviour was awful.’
However, Mr Dunne has denied his behaviour was inappropriate and instead accused court staff of being rude and aggressive.
In a typed two-page statement, hand-delivered to the Irish Mail on Sunday this week, he claimed: ‘I attended the Examiner’s Office on the 15th December 2017 to examine my bankruptcy file. I considered from the outset the attitude of [a named individual] to be rude, abrupt and aggressive, when [they] appeared from a rear office issuing instructions to me.
‘My file is over 4.5 years old and it would take an army of assistants to review my file in one hour. I was told that any document I wished to photocopy would cost €15 per document and, furthermore, I would be obliged to attend the stamp office in the Four Courts to pay the fee and return with a receipt.
‘This took 15 minutes. This structure seemed deliberately designed by the Examiner’s Office and the Official Assignee to hinder and obstruct individuals from obtaining a copy of a public document created by others and held on a bankrupt’s public file.’
Mr Dunne admitted he had taken a photograph of a staff member and that he was also ‘advised’ by a garda to leave the premises.
A Courts Service spokesman said: ‘The Courts service had cause to contact An Garda Síochána on December 15th last as a member of the public had become a disruption to the workings of the Examiner’s office in Phoenix House and we wished them to leave.’
Mr Dunne was declared bankrupt in Ireland in 2013. He was due to be discharged from his Irish bankruptcy in 2016, but the official handling his case applied for an extension as he claims the developer had not been co-operative. Mr Dunne has denied this.
Meanwhile, an affidavit sworn by Mr Dunne at a solicitor’s firm in England three days before he was escorted from the Dublin court building last month, gives a possible clue to his mood. Attached to the affidavit is a copy of a letter he sent to Nama and Ulster Bank dated October 4, 2017.
In the letter he states he is putting Nama and the bank on notice they will be sued for direct and contingent losses over the sale of a US property.
According to Mr Dunne, the property in Connecticut was managed by his wife Gayle Killilea, and it was bought to provide their children with an income. But, according to Mr Dunne, it was sold last year and because of a ‘legal morass’ created by Nama and Ulster Bank, losses now stand at $9.3million. He accuses ‘spineless, faceless individuals’ in both institutions of a ‘vendetta’. These claims have been denied by the bank and Nama.
‘Denied his behaviour was inappropriate’ ‘Member of public had become a disruption’