FORMER ANGLO Irish Bank chairman Seán FitzPatrick will ask the High Court today to declare him bankrupt after he failed to agree a settlement deal with his creditors.
Mr FitzPatrick has liabilities of almost €150 million, including €110 million owing to Anglo Irish Bank, and a deficit of €80 million.
Mr FitzPatrick had put together a settlement scheme which was placed before a meeting of creditors last Wednesday, but it was blocked by Anglo, his largest creditor, and so could not go ahead.
The former high-flying banker has substantial assets – but the value of many of them has fallen in the property crash.
He also owns five million Anglo Irish Bank shares, which are now worthless.
Because Anglo was his largest creditor, Mr FitzPatrick believed there was no point in proceeding with a private court sitting today as he would not achieve the necessary majority to proceed with his settlement scheme.
Mr FitzPatrick will be unable to act as a company director or manager after he is declared bankrupt.
He will be unable to borrow more than €650 without disclosing that he is a bankrupt.
All assets and property owned by Mr FitzPatrick will come under the control of the official assignee, the court officer who monitors the financial affairs of bankrupt individuals, after today’s hearing.
Any salary, income or pension will also go to the official assignee.
In Ireland, individuals can only be discharged as a bankrupt once their debts and the costs of their bankruptcy is covered, or after 12 years have elapsed.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s News at One programme yesterday, Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan said he had no sympathy for Mr FitzPatrick’s plight.
“No I don’t because I think what went on . . . did huge damage to the country,” Mr Ryan said. “My sympathies are not towards the bankers . . . it’s about the people who have lost their jobs as a result of it .”
At the creditors’ meeting, Mr FitzPatrick said he accepted full responsibility for “my own ruin”. He offered his family home and half of his pension as part of the settlement deal.
It is understood his home in Greystones, Co Wicklow, was valued at about €800,000.
