Coursing body calls EGM to agree court settlement
The members will be asked to accept the proposed settlement which arose from a High Court case around the development of the Showgrounds shopping centre beside its offices in Clonmel, Co Tipperary.
The dispute involved the decision of the former chief executive of the ICC, Jerry Desmond, to agree to sell a laneway beside its Davis Road office for €100,000.
This was to facilitate the construction of the €31m shopping centre.
However, the sale was arranged without the agreement of ICC members and when the club looked to stop the transfer, it caused a legal dispute.
In a related costs’ case this week, the High Court was told the terms of the settlement will see the ICC grant a right of way through its property in exchange for the developers paying €250,000 towards its legal costs.
The developers in question are Greenband Investments and a sister company, Mount Kennett Investments. Its Showgrounds shopping centre site was put into receivership by Nama.
The development was contingent on access through laneway and the developers getting proper title to it.
The ICC’s decision to contest the sale divided the organisation after it reportedly received conflicting advice from separate solicitors.
In the High Court, Mr Justice Frank Clarke awarded €640,000 in damages as well as costs against the ICC. The original claim was for €5.9m. The damages ruling was appealed to the Supreme Court.
The ICC EGM meeting will take place in the Horse and Jockey Hotel on Friday at 6pm. Members have been told the terms of the settlement will not be disclosed until then for confidentiality reasons.
In 2010, Mr Desmond was arrested by gardaí arising from allegations of false accounting within the organisation. However, he was released without charge and subsequently died in an accident in Spain.
This week, the Limerick solicitors who represented Greenband in the ICC dispute took a High Court case in a bid to recover extensive costs they were due. Nama had objected to paying costs to the law firm, McMahon O’Brien Tynan, as two of its principals, Paul O’Brien and Denis McMahon, together owned the companies behind the Clonmel project, Greenband Investments and Mount Kennett Investments.
At the time of the costs ruling against Nama, Mr O’Brien owed it €288m and Mr McMahon owed it €35m. However, Nama lost this action in 2012.
