“Tenants battle aristocrat landlord over historic home,” is the sort of headline one might read in the Daily Mail. But a recent case that came before the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) in Dublin is unlikely to find its way into the pages of Lord Rothermere’s titles.
Late last year Associated Newspapers owner Jonathan Harold Esmond Vere Harmsworth, to give the 4th Viscount Rothermere his full name, found himself on the receiving end of a complaint by the tenants of a property he owns in Chapelizod in Dublin of all places.
The owner of the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday bought the property, known as Sunnybank, just over a decade ago because of its links to his great-grandfather, Alfred Harmsworth, the original British media baron.
The first Viscount Rothermere was born in Sunnybank in 1865 and apparently spent some of his happiest days as a child in the riverfront home which borders the Phoenix Park, giving it the feel of a country house despite being close to the city.
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So when it came on the market in 2012 with an asking price of €680,000, his great-grandson bought it as a sentimental gesture, paying €815,000 for the three-bedroom home, a snip when you and your family are worth more than €1.47 billion, according to last year’s Sunday Times Rich List.
“The family has always known about the property because it was where Alfred was born. It is in the family literature. It was obviously an important part of my family,” he told The Irish Times at the time, adding that he planned to create some sort of memorial there to Alfred in the future.
[ ‘Daily Mail’ owner takes sentimental journeyOpens in new window ]
Since then the property has been rented. Late last year the tenants of the property brought a case against Lord Rothermere to the RTB disputing a notice of termination served on them and also complaining about the “standard and maintenance” of the property and alleging “a breach of landlord obligations” by the media tycoon.
Following a brief hearing into their complaints on February 5th, the RTB ruled it had “no jurisdiction” in relation to the applicants' claim. Neither the tenants, nor Lord Rothermere replied to queries.
Asked why it had no jurisdiction to rule on the dispute, the RTB said it could not comment on individual cases.
Marc MacSharry prepares to launch new career
Marc MacSharry doesn’t have a landed title but he is a member of the Irish political aristocracy.
The former TD for Sligo-Leitrim, a son of former tánaiste and European Commissioner Ray, fell out with Fianna Fáil in 2022 following a row over the handling of a bullying complaint against him and didn’t stand in the last general election.
But he has been keeping busy since, recently setting up two companies, one called Pontis Advisory with his father, Ray, as a codirector.
A second company, Nexus Communica, already has a project in the pipeline. MacSharry, along with a business partner, David O’Hara, is planning to run cruises on Lough Gill if funding can be secured from Sligo Leader Partnership. The plan is for the cruises to appeal to literary tourists visiting Yeats country.
The company recently tendered for two aluminium catamarans capable of carrying 12 passengers each, with a local company in Sligo winning the contract to supply the two boats with a bid of €119,420.
MacSharry, a vocal critic of Micheál Martin while he was a backbencher, may finally get to be captain of the ship.
The sound of Sammy’s silence
The normally garrulous Sammy Wilson was notably silent last week following the publication of the Commission of Investigation’s report on Project Eagle, an inquiry that arose out of claims by then Independent TD Mick Wallace in the Dáil that politicians and business people benefited from Nama’s sale of its Northern Ireland loan book.
Wilson played a key role in the events investigated by the commission. It was he who nominated Frank Cushnahan as Nama’s adviser for Northern Ireland and it was also Wilson who first alerted then minister for finance Michael Noonan about interest from two potential buyers for Nama’s Northern Ireland loan book.
So the commission would have been eager to hear from Sammy then, wouldn’t it?
Indeed it was. It contacted him in 2019 about his role in introducing the bidders to the process. “No response to this request was received until May 2020 at which time Mr Wilson issued an email to the commission setting out that he had received the commission’s request but ‘had decided not to reply’”, the commission said.
Henry Kelly: going for Gael?
Fingers on the buzzers. Which political party did broadcaster Henry Kelly support as a young go-getter in UCD? Kelly, who will be forever remembered by skiving students as the host of daytime quizshow Going for Gold, was a staunch Fine Gaeler, according to former Fine Gael TD and senator Maurice Manning.
In an online comment posted at the end of Kelly’s obituary in the Times last week, Manning recounts how he was a contemporary of Kelly’s in UCD in the 1960s.
“His background made him a strong Fine Gael supporter in those years and I thought at one stage he might follow a political career,” Manning recounted, describing Kelly as “always great company”.
Kelly, who worked as northern editor of The Irish Times in the 1970s, had a successful career in radio in the UK, working for BBC and LBC before doing his bit for European integration by hosting Going for Gold, which pitted contestants from across Europe against each other.
Had he run for election for Fine Gael, I’m sure he would never have had to play catch-up.
Michael Ring’s office on the market
It’s the end of an era for someone who certainly did win at politics. Fine Gael’s Michael Ring, who spent 45 years representing his constituents, first as a town councillor and eventually as a minister, decided not to contest the last general election.
His former constituency office on Quay Street in Westport, long a hub of activity, has now come on the market with an asking price of €259,000. As a heritage building and protected structure, it will need some sensitive remodelling for its future after politics – a bit like its former incumbent.
