After a make or break fortnight which saw ousted ex-taoiseach Brian Cowen take centre stage, the banking inquiry has still to find any smoking gun for what caused the 2008 crash.

One of Ireland’s wealthiest boom-time developers and key Anglo customers has insisted “I too lost” because the crash forced him to emigrate to Switzerland and Abu Dhabi to repay debts.

Former taoiseach Brian Cowen is expected this week to back previous suggestions that Ireland was “bounced” into a bailout.

Demand for high-quality office accommodation in the sought-after Dublin Docklands shows little sign of abating as one of the final office buildings in the vicinity hits the market with a €75m price tag.

U2’s four-star boutique hotel, the Clarence, has had “a great year” in 2014 after recording the fourth successive year of profits last year.

High-flying directors at Irish-based aircraft leasing company, Pembroke Capital, last year shared a pay pot of $4.2m (€3.34m) or an average of just under $600,000 each.

Former students at one of the country’s top schools are being urged to join a campaign against "unjust state interference" in pupil admissions policy.

Former students at one of the country’s top schools are being urged to join a campaign against “unjust State interference” in pupil admissions policy.

A property investment company has secured a €52.25m deal to buy the Observatory Building in Dublin city centre from Nama.

The multi-million-euro battle for control of three of London’s most prestigious hotels pitting Irish businessman Patrick McKillen against billionaire brothers David and Frederick Barclay has finally been resolved.

The owners of the four-star Clarence Hotel, which include Bono and the Edge, are not proceeding with a High Court action against a refusal by Dublin City Council to extend planning permission for a €150m proposal to transform the premises.

Profits at the four-star Clarence Hotel — co-owned by U2’s Bono and The Edge — last year decreased by 35% to €73,442.

The country’s most celebrated broadcaster, Gay Byrne, has left his financial woes behind with cash at his media firm climbing by almost €100,000 to €443,343.

Niall O’Farrell this week saw the business he founded in the mid-1980s, the formal suit hire firm Blacktie, fall into liquidation. The Dragons’ Den star will be hoping his investments on the show pay off soon, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

Elizabeth Dunne

LARRY Goodman’s purchase of the old Bank of Ireland headquarters on Baggot St in Dublin — announced last weekend — is a remarkable story.

A Government quango is set to be axed, with a report due this week by the country’s public spending watchdog set to reveal a litany of financial mismanagement and planning irregularities.

Bono joined two businessmen and a billionaire Saudi prince on a yacht in the south of France as a multimillion-pound deal to sell one of the world’s most famous hotels was finalised, a British High Court judge was told yesterday.

Billed as an Irish-British grudge match, Paddy McKillen is taking on the Barclay twins — owners of the Ritz London and ‘Daily Telegraph’ among more — for ownership rights to London’s most prestigious hotels, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

A businessman regarded as the face of Coroin, the hotel group, regularly used hotels owned by the firm and ran up a large unpaid bill, developer Patrick McKillen told the High Court in London yesterday.

Two billionaire brothers have been keeping afloat the developer Derek Quinlan, once one of Ireland’s richest men, a British court heard yesterday.

Businessmen Bernard McNamara and Derek Quinlan obtained no external valuation in their decision to further write down the value of the former glass bottle site in Ringsend, Dublin, by 40% to €30m, new documents show.

Up until a few years ago, Derek Quinlan epitomised the property bubble that had engulfed Ireland. With his empire now mostly in the hands of Nama, Michael Clifford profiles the man who once flew the Tricolour over London

The slump in world markets continues to affect Irish people who splashed out in the boom, writes Diarmaid Condon

DEVELOPER Derek Quinlan has been ordered by the Commercial Court to repay €6.5 million to Bank of Scotland.

THE chief executive of an exclusive American golf resort, formerly owned by Derek Quinlan, is suing the National Assets Management Agency (NAMA) for his right to claim bonuses of $2.1 million (€1.55m).

THE Clarence Hotel which is co-owned by U2’s Bono and The Edge returned to profit last year after three years of losses.

THEY have the country’s most exclusive addresses, but not even the trophy homes of the ultra-rich are immune to the property crash — and the price tags of some have fallen even further than regular properties.

PRE-TAX profits at Irish aircraft leasing and finance company, Pembroke Capital, almost doubled last year to $52.8 million (€39.3m), new figures show.

THE National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) has sold the combined loans of three prestigious London hotels previously owned by Irish investors for more than €800 million.

The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) has sold the Claridges, Connaught and Berkeley hotels in London for €800m.

IN 2007, the three families behind the Jurys Doyle hotel group decided to sell a sizeable chunk of the business.

NAMA has instructed renowned international auction house Christie’s to sell 14 works of art reportedly owned by property developer Derek Quinlan.

Artworks owned by one of Ireland’s boom-time developers are to be sold off by renowned auction house Christie’s to repay some of his debts.

A DUBLIN home formerly owned by Derek Quinlan, once one of Ireland’s richest men, may be sold and used by the Belgian embassy, according to reports.

REMEMBER the blockbuster Rich Man, Poor Man? This spectacularly successful televised drama series in 1976 was based on the tale of the Jordache brothers, Rudy and Tom.

Ardagh Glass is poised to float on the New York Stock Exchange and, if the move goes to plan, it will transform its main shareholder, Paul Coulson, from one of Ireland’s richest men into the realms of mega wealthy, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

Efforts to offload assets belonging to businessman Jim Mansfield are getting underway.

THE Jim Mansfield empire is continuing to crumble after NAMA assigned a statutory receiver to a number of businesses linked to the high-profile developer.

A TAXMAN turned international investment tycoon has lost control of his exclusive Dublin property portfolio as Ireland’s “bad bank” chases his debts.

THERE are layers of bitter irony behind Ireland’s most toxic bank’s move to sell the empire created by a self-made businessman who became the country’s richest man only to fall victim to greed and over-weaning ambition.

A tax man turned international investment tycoon has lost control of his exclusive Dublin property portfolio as Ireland’s “bad bank” chases his debts.

PROPERTY investor Paddy McKillen and his companies have won their Supreme Court appeal aimed at preventing the National Assets Management Agency acquiring their €2.1 billion loans.