Seen or heard

A weekend digest

Philip Lynch, the former chief executive of investment company One51, is suing his former employer for €1.4 million in bonuses he claims he is entitled to, according to the Sunday Times.

Mr Lynch claims he is due the payments under a controversial tax-free patent royalty scheme. Under the scheme, royalties on a paint lid technology were paid to Mr Lynch and eight other One51 executives as tax-free dividends.

Fifty houses have been sold in Dublin this year for over €1 million, the Sunday Business Post reports. The combined value of the sales, conducted by three of the State’s largest estate agencies, was €80 million.

In a sign of a significant improvement in activity at the upper end of the market, Sherry Fitzgerald said it had sold 20-25 properties for more than €1 million, with a total deal value of €40 million.

Lisney said it had sold 15 properties at this level, while Savills said it had closed 13 sales for €1 million or more.

An “extraordinary race” is under way to get access to the private papers of the late Brian Lenihan, according to the Sunday Independent.

The Public Accounts Committee is to appeal to Mr Lenihan’s family to be allowed to look at his private papers, which could shed light on the circumstances of the bank guarantee in September 2008.

Former billionaire business man Seán Quinn is also seeking access to the papers as part of his legal efforts to prove that €2.8 billion in loans to his family from Anglo Irish Bank were illegal.