THE SON of former Government press secretary PJ Mara yesterday faced demands for payment of almost €6 million, the major portion of which Irish Nationwide Building Society lent him to build a property portfolio in Ireland and Croatia.
John Mara, with his partner, Clare Murphy, told Dublin County Registrar Susan Ryan they planned to auction one of their properties, “Chiang Mai,” 5 Claremont Road, Sandymount, Dublin, in September in a bid to reduce their debts.
Barrister Anne Lawlor, counsel for the building society, told Ms Ryan there was little reality behind the couple’s hopes of substantially meeting their commitments, as “Chiang Mai,” formerly worth €4 million, was now going under the hammer for an asking price of about €1.8 million.
Michael Murphy, a solicitor with McCann Fitzgerald who represents the couple, said they were prepared to also sell their €2 million Croatia property and their furniture, worth €60,000, in co-operation with Irish Nationwide.
Ms Lawlor said promises had been made before and the building society was seeking possession of “Chiang Mai” on which there was now a debt of €5,775,548.43.
The society’s application has been before the county registrar’s court since April this year and in evidence Ms Ryan has heard that Mr Mara and Ms Murphy have seen the value of their investments wiped out over the last two years.
Solicitor Michael Murphy said significant progress had been made since the previous court hearing on May 27th.
The property had now been placed for auction in September by Bennetts Auctioneers and the couple had made proposals to the society with regard to the disposal of their property in Croatia, the proceeds of which would be applied to the debt.
Ms Lawlor said a valuation of €1.8 million had been placed on “Chiang Mai” but the society believed even this price may not be realisable.
She said the society was not happy with proposals relating to the Croatia property as promises had been made in the past and not kept.
“Chiang Mai” had been unsuccessfully on the market for the past two years.
Ms Lawlor said that in a statement of income and expenditure entered by Mr Mara and Ms Murphy, they had declared their monthly income as in the region of €4,000.
They stated they had commitments to other financial institutions of just under €3,000 a month, leaving them €1,000 a month to live on.
They had proposed to pay Irish Nationwide €250 a week, which would completely use up what they said they had left to live on.
Ms Ryan said that even if the Croatian property raised €2 million and €1.8 million was achieved from the sale of “Chiang Mai”, it would still amount to only €3.8 million, a long way short of the €5.77 million being sought by Irish Nationwide.
Ms Lawlor said the only security being held against the outstanding debts to Irish Nationwide was “Chiang Mai” and the society wanted possession of it.
Ms Ryan said she was not prepared to prejudice the sale at auction of the property and adjourned the society’s motion for possession until the new law term in October.
The court heard that Mr Mara and Ms Murphy had already paid very large amounts of interest to the society over the term of the loans at high rates and to do so had already sold assets and borrowed from friends and family.