O’Mahony linked to Priory Hall

Developer was long time associate of Tom McFeely

Larry O’Mahony was a long time associate of Tom McFeely and was involved in the infamous Priory Hall development.

He was part of the Coalport company behind the complex that had to be evacuated in 2011 over serious fire hazard concerns.

His association with Coalport ended in 2009, however, and in May, 2012 a court cleared him of any wrong-doing in relation to the development.

O’Mahony emerged from bankruptcy in Britain last year following a hearing at Macclesfield Crown Court in Cheshire, which had declared him bankrupt a year before.

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He had to be normally resident in Britain in order to declare bankruptcy, although he had an Irish address on Shrewsbury Road, in the prosperous Ballsbridge neighbourhood of Dublin. An official British address was listed as Apartment 51, Central Place, Station Road, Wilmslow, just south of Manchester.

O’Mahony is just one of a number of Irish developers and business people who moved to Britain to take advantage of its easier personal insolvency regime.


Tallaght deal
Six years ago O'Mahony and McFeely, together with solicitor and property dealer Noel Smyth, planned to redevelop the Square shopping centre in the Dublin suburb of Tallaght.

They were involved in the project through a company called Aifca, which Liam Carroll – whose Zoe Developments empire collapsed spectacularly in 2009 – was subsequently reported to have acquired.

It ultimately ended in dispute and Mr Smyth's company, Redfern, sued Mr O'Mahony, Mr McFeely and Mr Carroll for €140 million, although the case was dismissed.

Mark Hilliard

Mark Hilliard

Mark Hilliard is a reporter with The Irish Times