Court approves two insolvencies allowing more than €12m of debts to be written off

In both cases the creditors, Everyday Finance DAC and Pepper Finance Corporation Ireland DAC, will do better than if the debtors were adjudicated bankrupt

The first arrangement will see €8.9m of debt written off with a further €4m written off in the second debt. File photo: iStock

Two separate and unrelated insolvency arrangements allowing two debtors to write-off more than €12m owed to financial funds have been approved by the High Court. 

The court approved a Debt Settlement Arrangement (DSA) to company director 63-year old Mark Quinn which will see €8.9m of debt owed to financial fund Everyday Finance DAC written off.

As part of that arrangement, which is to be 12 months in duration, he will make a lump sum payment of over €50,000 to his creditors. He sought to enter into the arrangement due to difficulties in repaying loans to acquire property that were taken out years ago and were subsequently acquired by Everyday Finance.

His proposal was put together by Personal Insolvency Practitioner Eugene McDarby. Keith Farry Bl for Mr McDarby told the court that Everyday does better under the DSA than compared to if Mr Quinn was adjudicated a bankrupt.

The court also heard that for the duration of the DSA Mr Quinn, who works with an advertising company, will continue to reside with his partner at an address at Laurence Grove, Clontarf, Dublin 3. The proposal was not opposed.

Second case

Separately, the court also approved a Personal Insolvency Arrangement (PIA) in respect of Gill McEvoy, a 67-year-old company director with an address at Larchfield Road, Goatstown in Dublin.

The court heard that she owed some €4m, including some €850,000 on the mortgage of her home, to Pepper Finance Corporation Ireland DAC. The court heard that she is a widow and works for Wildan Sports, a sporting brands company set up by her late husband.

Under the terms of her PIA, which is to be six years in duration, the mortgage on her main private residence is to be restructured and extended by a further 288 months. Under the PIA she will make a payment of €27,000 which would allow her to write off some €3.5m of her debt.

Also represented by Mr McDarby and Mr Farry, the court heard that her creditor will do better under the PIA compared to if Ms McEvoy was adjudicated a bankrupt. There were no objections to her PIA being approved.

Both arrangements, which will allow the parties to return to solvency, were approved by Mr Justice Alexander Owens on Monday.