Former tycoon Patrick Gallagher dies

The death has taken place of the former property tycoon Patrick Gallagher.

Mr Gallagher (54) is understood to have died in Dublin early yesterday morning. He had not been well in recent times.

Mr Gallagher was the former head of the Gallagher group, a property development, pub and banking business that collapsed spectacularly in April 1982, when he was just 31 .

Mr Gallagher took charge of the Gallagher group in 1974, at the age of 22, after the death of his father, Matt Gallagher, who had created the business.

Mr Gallagher was a high-profile figure during the 1970s when he was involved in a number of very profitable property deals that created headlines.

He was known for spending large amounts of money on expensive cars and race horses.

Immediately before the collapse of the group, Mr Gallagher and his family moved into Straffan House, Co Kildare.

It was a large house on 300 acres by the banks of the River Liffey which was bought for £1 million in 1979 and on which more than that again was reportedly spent on renovations.

A long-time acquaintance of Mr Gallagher who did not wish to be named said he had been unwell for some time.

He had been in hospital recently but had seemed to recover.

During the 1990s, Mr Gallagher spent most of his time in South Africa but he returned to Ireland a number of years ago.

Cash-flow difficulties and a drop in property prices lay behind the decision of the banks to send receivers into the Gallagher group in 1982.

The immediate trigger for the decision was the failure of Irish Life to go ahead with a deal to buy the site on St Stephen's Green where the St Stephen's Green shopping centre now exists.

At the time Mr Gallagher was trying to sell the site for £15.75 million, even though he had at the time only put down a deposit of £50,000 on the site.

Some property figures in Dublin at the time felt Mr Gallagher's flamboyant style helped to create the atmosphere that led to the introduction of a special capital gains tax on windfalls from development deals.

In a 1979 property deal involving 55-59 St Stephen's Green, Mr Gallagher made a £2 million profit when he bought the building from developer John Byrne and sold it on to Irish Permanent five months later.

In 1990 Patrick Shorthall, the liquidator to one of the Gallagher companies, Merchant Banking, said he was "disappointed and saddened" that the Director of Public Prosecutions was not taking action on foot of his report.

Mr Gallagher's acquaintance said Mr Gallagher had in many ways been unlucky.

Mr Gallagher had always blamed the banks for the collapse of the group and that he had been "treated badly".

However, a senior business figure who knew Mr Gallagher in the 1970s said: "He was a tough man to deal with. When he was at the top, he was very tough. He knew no boundaries."

He had taken great risks and when the property market collapsed, so did his business.

"People always blame the banks," he said.