Musician Corr owes €6.5m over property deals

Musician Jim Corr, who estimates he owes €6.5m arising from property dealings in Ireland, Britain, and Spain, is facing a court examination of his means.

Mr Corr has been ordered to attend the Commercial Court next month in an effort by ACC Bank to secure payment of €778,000 outstanding from a €1.4m judgment.

The bank obtained judgment in Feb 2011 against Mr Corr and Liam Marks, The Coach House, Sandymount, Blackrock, Dundalk, Co Louth, over an unpaid loan advanced in 2004 to buy 94 acres at Goresbridge, Co Kilkenny. Both consented to judgment.

The Goresbridge lands were later sold and ACC agreed to accept €778,675 from the sale. It continues to seek repayment of the outstanding sum.

Ciaran Lewis, who represented Mr Corr, secured an order allowing his solicitors cease representing him. The solicitors had been unable to take full instructions and Mr Corr’s changes of residence, with financial documents in various places, made it difficult to compile a full picture of his financial records, the court heard.

Mr Corr had addresses at Sharman House, Old Windmill Rd, Crawfordsburn, Bangor, and another address in Belfast, the court heard.

In an affidavit, Mr Corr said his liabilities far exceed his assets, including outstanding liabilities of €6.5m arising from property investments. He had placed most of the properties on the market so as to repay some of his liabilities, he said.

Dealing with his assets, he said Bank of Ireland holds €182,000 in relation to his personal pension plan and he drives a 2007 Lexus estimated to be worth €10,000. His annual income for 2011 was €110,352, of which €40,471 went directly to meeting rental repayments.

His sole source of expendable income came from music royalties arising from his membership of The Corrs, he said. Those royalties were “quite steady”, despite “an overall downward trajectory”. He got about €70,000 in royalties in 2011.

While he had greatly reduced his outgoings, he owed €131,000 to Revenue, he added.

In a further affidavit, Mr Corr said he inadvertently omitted to include three Bank of Ireland accounts in his statement of assets and liabilities, which held sums totalling €8,000.

The affidavits stated most of his liabilities — €5.1m — arise from his property development and investment partnership, MarksCorr.