Former partner: ‘Irvine forced me into deal’

THE former business partner of Eddie Irvine has claimed he was forced into giving the retired racing driver a 50% shareholding in two Dublin pubs in return for a €500,000 loan.

John Foley told the Employment Appeals Tribunal yesterday that he was unhappy at having to give his former friend such a large interest in his business. "I got into a take-it-or-leave-it scenario," he told an EAT hearing in Dublin.

Mr Foley claims he was unfairly sacked from his €75,000-a-year position as manager of Cocoon and O'Reilly pubs in Dublin in April 2003 by the other directors of Calview Investments the company he co-owns with Mr Irvine.