F1 star 'used pub cash to bolster private account'

Former Formula One star Eddie Irvine used money from two pubs in which he had a 50% stake to stop cheques bouncing in a private account, a tribunal heard today.

Two transfers totalling €15,000 were made from O’Reilly’s on Tara Street and Cocoon on Grafton Street – both owned by Mr Irvine’s friend John Foley – in August 2002.

The Employment Appeals Tribunal heard that the payments were made to cover shortfalls in expenditure in the building of Mr Irvine’s house at Kilross in Dalkey, pending the transfer of money from outside the jurisdiction.

Joe O’Sullivan, an accountant for Calview Investments, the owners of Cocoon, told the hearing that Mr Foley was managing the project.

“It was a situation created by Mr Foley that we made an attempt to alleviate on a very short term,” Mr O’Sullivan said.

The tribunal has heard that Mr Foley was dismissed by Calview for cashing personal cheques in their bars without the necessary funds and for paying personal debts with company money.

He has brought a case of unfair dismissal against the company.

Mr Nee said that Mr Irvine’s company Tidswell had become involved with Calview because of his friendship with Mr Foley and a “gut feeling” about the deal.

“He was friends with Mr Foley at the time, and he trusted him,” he said.

“Also he [Foley] had ideas out there and he had a good nature about him, he thought he could make it work and that’s why we trusted him.”

Mr Irvine took over a 50% share of the holding company when his original investment was not paid back.

Today, the tribunal heard that €300,000 earmarked as a loan to Calview was used to pay a deposit on Mr Irvine’s house.

But Alan Nee, who managed Mr Irvine’s business affairs at the time, said that the money was not immediately required for the pubs and was still Mr Irvine’s.

Mr Nee told the tribunal that an assessment of the businesses suggested that a total of €1.8m would be needed to turn the companies around.

He said that the company board made Mr Foley drop plans to develop a site in Duke Street – a project in which Mr Foley had invested a lot of time and money - because it was detracting from improving the loss-making pubs.

“It was taking too much of Mr Foley’s time and we needed him for the day-to-day running of the business,” he said.

But Mr Lee said he didn’t think that Mr Foley was under too much pressure running the two bars as well as managing the construction of Mr Irvine’s €1.5m home as a favour to the 39-year-old motor racing star.

The tribunal continues.