The Commercial Court has been told that developer Bernard McNamara has no unencumbered assets and cannot discharge a judgement of €62.5m against him.
Mr McNamara is seeking a stay on the judgement against him and on a €98m judgement against his company, Donatex, arising from the acquisition of the Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend just over three years ago.
The court ruled on December 18 that a group of investors who are private clients of stockbroker Davy - who part-funded the acquisition of the site for €412m in 2006 - were entitled to the judgements.
Mr McNamara intends to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court and is seeking a stay in the meantime. Mr Justice Peter Kelly will give his decision on the stay tomorrow.
Lawyers for the investors told the Commercial Court that their solicitors had received a letter for solicitors acting on behalf of Mr McNamara and Donatex. The letter stated Mr McNamara and Donatex were unable to discharge or satisfy the judgements.
It said Mr McNamara had no unencumbered assets (assets which are free from debt), and all the equity in his personal assets had been used to support his businesses and the 1,100 people employed directly or indirectly in them.
Lawyers for Mr McNamara said he was offering to pay the investors a sum of €100,000 a month pending the Supreme Court appeal, if a stay were granted. This was described by Mr Justice Peter Kelly as a 'bagatelle' in the context of the amount of money owed.
The site was bought for €412m in 2006 by a consortium consisting of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, Mr McNamara and another developer, Derek Quinlan. The purchase was made by a company called Becbay Ltd.
The site is now worth around €60m. The investors claimed Becbay had failed to secure planning permission from either the DDDA or Dublin City Council as agreed. In a separate action, Mr McNamara is suing the DDDA over the deal. Mr Justice Peter Kelly said he would give his decision on whether or not to grant a stay tomorrow.
