Clare FG councillor and sons accused of using firm's resources for own benefit

A Fine Gael councillor and his two sons have been accused of using resources from their company Abbey Contractors Ltd for their personal benefit.

Clare Councillor Oliver Garry, of Fort Hill, Kildysart, Co Clare is being sued, along with his sons, by his brother Edward Garry, on behalf of the construction and plant hire company whose main customer is Irish Rail.

It is alleged around €400,000 has been withdrawn from Abbey Contractors for the personal use of Clare Councillor Oliver Garry and his sons John and Colin over a six to seven-year period.

The councillor's brother - Dublin-based Edward Garry - a 15 % shareholder in the plant hire business also claims that his nephew Colin Garry got the firm to build him a large house which he never paid the firm for.

His laywers applied for an order directing the return of €33,000 of company funds allegedly withdrawn by John and Colin Garry on December 21 as redundancy payments.

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy refused saying he could not grant the injunction when the other side was not represented in court as the claim could be unfounded, so the case has been put back to next week.