Dunne regrets making life difficult for Irish

Businessman Sean Dunne, who filed for bankruptcy in the US on Good Friday, says he regrets any involvement he had in making life difficult for any Irish resident.

By applying for bankruptcy in the US, Mr Dunne, 58, who owes the banks anything up to €1bn, can emerge from bank-ruptcy after just 12 months, compared to being discharged after three years the earliest in Ireland.

“Unlike Jesus, I don’t expect to rise again in three days but certainly hope to make great strides within the next three years, debt-free, with a clean slate and with my fate back in my own hands,” he wrote in a Sunday newspaper.

He expressed regret for any involvement he had in making life difficult financially for any Irish resident.

“I have always loved and been loyal to my country,” he said. “I appreciated the free education I received here and I always wanted to play a positive role in Ireland.

“I am truly sorry that any decisions I made contributed to any Irish person’s economic woes.”

Nama is owed €185m by Mr Dunne on foot of personal guarantees provided by the developer on Irish bank loans acquired by the State loans agency.

Mr Dunne estimated his liabilities at between €390m and €780m and his assets at between €1m and €10m in the court bankruptcy filing. Both Nama and Ulster Bank are his main creditors.

He claims Ulster Bank forced him into filing for bankruptcy in Connecticut by applying to make him bankrupt in Ireland.

The property tycoon, who paid €379m for the seven-acre site occupied by the former Jurys and Berkeley Court hotel in 2005, put up a strong defence of his business decision.

He believes his debt to the State has been cleared based on the money earned by Nama on the properties it took into receivership, the employment he provided, and the taxes he paid.

“I estimate that I employed over 200 people annually over a 25-year period in the Irish economy and contributed €250m to the Exchequer. Therefore, I am personally happy that my debt to the Irish State is clear,” he said.

“While I was prepared for a fall in property prices, I never imagined that they could possibly fall so low that my 50% equity in my property portfolio would be wiped out and end up with my PGs [personal guarantees] being called in. It was simply not conceivable.”

However, he said he was “pleasantly surprised” to discover that he was debtor number 39 with Nama.

Nama has claimed Mr Dunne’s wife is using money from the sale of a Swiss apartment and her husband’s money to redevelop properties in Greenwich, a wealthy area on the US east coast.

However, Mr Dunne insists his wife and he are separate entities who own separate corporate structures and assets, and has accused Nama and Ulster Bank of having “blurred vision” in failing to make that distinction.

“Gayle was never a debtor, director, shareholder or guarantor, nor indeed were any of my adult children, of any of my debts or business dealings,” said Mr Dunne. “In fact, they had zero to do with my businesses and related borrowings.

“But chasing one of the poster boys of the property bust is their idea of a new blood sport.”