Plans to redevelop Ireland’s most expensive house, bought by developer Sean Dunne and his wife Gayle Killilea for €58m in 2005, have been rejected.

Seán Dunne gave up his battle to walk away from his US debts at a bankruptcy court in Connecticut yesterday.

The company that acquired Ireland’s most expensive house was entitled to apply to develop the site, a Bord Pleanála hearing has been told.

Ireland’s most expensive house was allowed to become derelict to gain a development advantage, it was claimed at yesterday’s An Bord Pleanála hearing.

The mystery owners of Ireland’s most expensive house were the subject of a heated exchange at yesterday’s Bord Pleanála appeal hearing over plans to build homes on the site.

Former property developer Sean Dunne confirmed yesterday that he gifted his wife €58m to purchase Ireland’s most expensive residential home.

Seán Dunne expressed regret yesterday that he did not cash in his huge fortune in 2007 after his wife suggested that he sell all his holdings.

A prenuptial

A private construction company owned by businessman Sean Dunne’s wife, Gayle Killilea, has settled its High Court action over an alleged failure to pay it €2.5m for remedial works to two flooded Dublin 4 hotels.

Lawyers for Sean Dunne have told the High Court they intend to bring an application aimed at overturning the decision to declare him bankrupt.

Developer Sean Dunne was yesterday declared bankrupt by the High Court.

DEVELOPERS have had a raw deal. Anybody who built something big during the bubble has been cast as reckless and greedy. It’s not a fair portrayal: many of them got caught up in the madness, carried on a wave that promised to deliver eternal prosperity.

BUST property developer Seán Dunne has been all over the news this week, his behaviour in trying to avoid the financial consequences of his failures giving rise to much harsh and disbelieving comment.

US bankruptcy laws give people a second chance but Nama and Ulster Bank will keep a close eye on Seán Dunne’s proceedings, says business correspondent John Walsh.

If you are unfortunate enough to be a creditor of Sean Dunne and need to calculate exactly what he owes you ‘do the math’, as the Americans say, because sums aren’t his thing.

On Good Friday, American-based developer Sean Dunne joined a long list of people connected with property or banking to seek the comfort, the out-of-reach sanctuary, of being declared bankrupt outside of this jurisdiction.

It was one of the signature deals of the boom.

The blizzard conditions affecting the northeastern US have delayed an attempt by former developer Seán Dunne and his wife, Gayle Killilea, to have a case against them dismissed.

Lawyers for Sean Dunne and his wife Gayle Killilea yesterday insisted that three US properties which are the subject of a Nama investigation were bought using her own money and not as a result of an asset transfer.

YOU have to hand it to Sean Dunne. He has an irrepressible spirit. Whatever brickbats fate hurls at him, he just gets up, brushes himself down, and carries on. Some might say that he typifies what made this country great.

Having loans in NAMA is no reason for some Irish developers to stop building, especially on foreign shores, writes John Hearne

THE Irish Congress of Trade Unions has launched a blistering attack on the property developers surrounding the Jurys Doyle hotel chain, accusing them of sacrificing 800 jobs to satisfy their greed.

IRELAND'S top party person of 2002 last night admitted to feeling slightly confused and undeserving of the accolade which acknowledges her as the country’s most die-hard night owl.