Hug and a tear seals €2.75m property deal

IT IS not often a €2.75 million property deal is sealed with a hug and a tear in the middle of a shanty-town in South Africa.

Even rarer does it occur when the only solicitors and auctioneers present are volunteering in the scramble to build 200 houses for impoverished people in less than a week.

But this is exactly how property developer Seán Dunne handed over a penthouse in an exclusive Foxrock estate to charity boss Niall Mellon.

Both were mucking-in, along with 1,350 others, in Cape Town’s Freedom Park township when the multi-millionaire developer opted to give a little more than a week’s volunteering.

“I decided on Tuesday after being here for that little time and seeing such a wonderful Irish-based community project and I went away to see what more I can do.

“I knew this money would go a lot further in a country like South Africa than at home and this is a place that is close to my heart. So I was talking to Niall on the site and I told him. I can confirm I got a big hug.”

It is Mr Dunne’s second time coming to South Africa as a volunteer for the annual builders’ blitz. After spending a lot of time in the country previously, he also stipulated the money be shared between the Niall Mellon Township Trust and the Nelson Mandela Rhodes Foundation.

“I was lucky enough to have the benefit of a free education and I have had the pleasure of meeting Nelson Mandela on a number of occasions, so I wanted the money to go both ways.”

The plush apartment in the Hollybrook estate is part of a development completed three years ago and will be given to the charity to sell in whatever way it fancies.

Although the trust has not made a firm decision, Mr Mellon has considered raffling the property and ploughing its share of the money into plans to build the world’s first charity building factory in South Africa. Mr Mellon said it was a big boost for the trust. Already this year he has put €5 million of his own money into its coffers to satisfy the ambitious plan to build 5,000 social houses in 12 months.

“There was one point in the year where it was a struggle to meet our targets. We had a staff of 2,000 who had to be paid by Friday and we only had €1,400 in the bank, so I knew I had to do something.

“There was never going to be a issue with not keeping going, but we know our biggest problem going forward is funding,” he said.

This week, as building work gets more frenzied to catch up on time lost to bad weather, emotions are running high and further generous offers were made to Mr Mellon. This included Eamon Fitzgerald who will donate two full kitchens. There has also been a mystery donation of €750,000 from a Meath man.

Mr Mellon said he hoped all these gestures would nurture a culture of philanthropy among those who have done well during the economic boom.

“I think there is a growing recognition that Ireland needs more philanthropists and I hope gestures like this will inspire those aspiring to make a difference and encourage them to get involved,” he said.

Mr Mellon said although the volunteers’ €4,000 fundraising requirement paid for the week’s blitz, the additional money given to the charity helped it continue all year-round.

The blitz will finish up today at lunchtime with some people staying on site late last night to get houses completed in time so the new residents will get the keys to their first proper house before the volunteer-army returned home.