Judgment over secret Offaly land profits adjourned

FORMER OFFALY GAA football manager Richard Connor should have stuck to his job as national school teacher, a High Court judge remarked yesterday.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly made his comment after hearing that Mr Connor’s involvement in property transactions, including two deals where he has admitted making secret profits hidden from other partners, have left him with liabilities of more than €3 million.

Mr Justice Kelly agreed to vary an €8 million freezing order on bank accounts of Mr Connor so that he may be paid his national teacher’s salary.

The court heard that Mr Connor returned to teaching after an auctioneering business in which he was involved with former Fianna Fáil councillor Gerard Killally had failed last summer. While he has property assets with others worth some €6.5 million “on paper”, there are borrowings of some €9.5 million against those.

Mr Connor yesterday consented to judgment against him over admitted secret profits made by him and Mr Killally from two land deals in Co Offaly. The amount to be paid by Mr Connor will be assessed later, but the plaintiffs have alleged that both defendants procured transactions under which they first acquired the Downshire and Daingean Road lands for some €3.5 million less than was ultimately paid by the partnership.

Adrian Daly, Cappincur, Tullamore, Declan Guing, Carrick Road, Edenderry, and Frank Lawlor, Clonmullen Lodge, Edenderry, took the case against Mr Connor and Mr Killally over partnerships formed between combinations of the sides to acquire and deal in lands.

Because Mr Killally is alleging he acted on advice from Miriam Kavanagh, trading as Miriam Kavanagh Co solicitors, the judge adjourned to next week the application to mark judgment against him. The adjournment is to facilitate an application to join Ms Kavanagh to the proceedings.

It emerged in court yesterday that the plaintiffs issued proceedings last November against Ms Kavanagh, alleging she failed in her professional duty to advise them that a secret profit was being made by fellow partners.

Mr Justice Kelly adjourned to Monday both the application for judgment against Mr Killally and Mr Killally’s application to vary the freezing order on his accounts.

Ben Ó Floinn, for Mr Killally, said Mr Killally did not bear any personal animus against Ms Kavanagh, but “such damage has been done to him” that he had to put all matters before the court.

Mr Ó Floinn said Ms Kavanagh had last November acknowledged to the plaintiffs’ solicitor that she was at fault. Documents concerning the Daingean Road partnership also made clear that Ms Kavanagh was aware of the profit involved, that it was used to pay tax, that she did not communicate that to the other partners directly and that she did not require Mr Killally to tell the partners, he said.

The judge said the defence by Mr Killally and Mr Connor last December did not contain any “extraordinary” assertion that the partners would agree to two of them making profits at the expense of others. Mr Ó Floinn said these were informal arrangements and his client took issue with a lot of the plaintiffs’ claims relating to the nature of the partnerships.