Bank pursues junior minister over €2.5m loans

Fine Gael Minister of State for small business John Perry and his wife are being pursued by a bank for a judgment over unpaid loans of almost €2.5 million

Danske Bank will apply to Mr Justice Peter Kelly on Monday to have its case seeking judgment for some €2.47 million, including interest, against Mr Perry and his wife Marie fast-tracked in the Commercial Court.

The bank claims the couple, of Carrownany, Ballymote, Co Sligo, are indebted arising from a October 2011 facility for €2.42 million provided to restructure existing loans.

It claims the security for the facility included first legal mortgages over a retail premises, the Stone Park Restuarant and Perry’s Hardware, all located at Main Street, Ballymote, and over some 50 acres of agricultural lands at Ballymote.

It claimed the loan was to be repaid in full some 12 months after it was drawn down in November 2011, with the effect the final repayment date was November 19th 2012.

The couple made some repayments but, the bank claims,failed to keep up the level of interim repayments required under the terms of the loan facility. Last March, it demanded immediate payment of the total sum outstanding, with interest, of about €2.46 million.

Late last May, solicitors for the bank demanded repayment of the total sum due within seven days.

The bank also claims it wrote to the couple in March 2012 under the Code of Conduct for Business Lending asking if they were in financial difficulty and drawing their attention to the information and resources availabe to them. It also claims it engaged with them in efforts to resolve the situation.