Developer and businessman Sean Dunne has been ordered by the High Court to provide his current home address to lawyers representing the official in charge of his bankruptcy.
Ms Justice Teresa Pilkington said Mr Dunne has until 1pm on Friday, March 13th to furnish those details to the representatives of the official assignee (OA), Chris Lehane.
The order was sought by Mr Lehane’s lawyers arising out of an allegation that Mr Dunne is not complying with a court order order to pay €7,000 monthly to increase the assets available for his creditors.
That order was made by Ms Justice Caroline Costello in 2018 after she extended Mr Dunne's bankruptcy. The judge directed him to make payments of €7,000 monthly from September 25th, 2018 to May 25th, 2021.
As a result of Mr Dunne’s alleged failure to comply with the 2018 order, Mr Lehane has brought a motion requiring that Mr Dunne come before the court to answer his alleged contempt.
The matter was briefly mentioned before Ms Justice Pilkington on Thursday. Edward Farrelly SC, for the OA, said issues had arisen over the provision of Mr Dunne’s home address to his client. Counsel said an undertaking had been given by Mr Dunne’s former lawyers, who earlier this week ceased representing Mr Dunne, to provide the home address to the OA but this had not occurred.
Counsel said that under the 1988 Bankruptcy Act a bankrupt must provide their home address or current address to the OA. Any failure to comply could result in a second motion for attachment and committal being brought against Mr Dunne, counsel said.
Used car business
The OA had an email address for Mr Dunne which counsel said was working as he had replied to correspondence sent to him by the OA. The only other address they had for Mr Dunne was a postal address of a used car business in Berkshire in England.
A solicitor with OBH Partners, who previously represented Mr Dunne in his Irish bankruptcy proceedings, told the court they could not comply with an undertaking previously provided to the court to give the OA Mr Dunne’s home address because he had not consented to it being furnished to the OA. The solicitor said Mr Dunne, who was not in court on Thursday, had concerns about his family’s privacy and asked the court if it would accept an email from Mr Dunne.
Ms Justice Pilkington, while acknowledging the “rock and the hard place” situation OBH found itself in, refused to accept or hear any details contained in the email. If Mr Dunne wanted, he could swear an affidavit to the court himself, the Judge said.
Mr Farrelly said, if Mr Dunne’s home address was furnished to the solicitors acting for the OA, it would not be placed on the public file in the Examiner’s Office.
The judge agreed to adjourn the matter to later this month.
Ulster Bank
Mr Dunne was adjudicated bankrupt in 2013 on foot of an application by Ulster Bank after he had defaulted on some €164 million in loans. That same year Mr Dunne filed for bankruptcy in Connecticut, US, when he claimed to have debts of $1 billion (€900,942) and assets of $55 million and a US bankruptcy trustee was appointed by a US court.
Mr Dunne was due to exit his Irish bankruptcy in 2016 but it was extended in 2018 by 12 years after a judge ruled he had not co-operated with the OA.
