€400k sale of Quinn Jr’s home will finally purge contempt proceedings

The sale of Sean Quinn Jr’s Dublin home in the next four weeks for over €400,000 will finally purge a contempt of court order against him, a judge said yesterday.

Once the transaction over the house at Alder Lodge, Farmleigh Woods, Castleknock, is completed, that will be the end of High Court contempt proceedings against Mr Quinn, Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne said.

Martin Hayden, for Mr Quinn, told the judge yesterday that two valuations from auctioneers, of €400,000 and €450,000 respectively, have been received for the house which Mr Quinn owns with his wife Karen Woods.

Mr Quinn’s half of the sale figure will go to the IBRC, which had brought the contempt proceedings against Mr Quinn, his father, and his cousin Peter Darragh Quinn.

He was jailed for three months for contempt but even after serving his jail term, he was still required to take steps to repay the money involved in order to fully purge his contempt.

To do so, he offered to sell the Dublin house and Mr Quinn’s 50% share of the sale transaction can be paid as directed by the court, Mr Hayden said.

Ms Justice Dunne said this went some way towards meeting the requirement for Mr Quinn to purge his contempt. While it was not the full amount, it was the best that can be done under the circumstances, she said.

Once the transaction is complete, the matter should come back before her on Dec 4 for the court to direct what should be done with the money received, she said.

The judge said she expected the price to be achieved for the property would be the mean figure of the two valuations, €420,000.

After being told by Mr Hayden that the timescale for the transaction was likely to be four weeks or sooner, the judge said when that is done, the matter should come back before the court on Dec 4 for directions on what should be done with the money.

“Assuming that is the position, that will be the end of the matter as far as Sean Quinn Jr is concerned,” Ms Justice Dunne said.

In July last year, when the judge jailed Mr Quinn for contempt, she also issued a warrant for the arrest of his cousin Peter Darragh Quinn to also serve a three-month sentence for contempt. That warrant remains unexecuted as he is living in Northern Ireland.