{"id":306426,"date":"2026-02-19T16:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T16:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/306426\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T16:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T16:36:11","slug":"sean-dunne-cross-examines-former-official-who-oversaw-his-bankruptcy-estate-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/306426\/","title":{"rendered":"Se\u00e1n Dunne cross-examines former official who oversaw his bankruptcy estate \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

*Now-bankrupt Celtic Tiger property developer Se\u00e1n Dunne<\/a> told the High Court on Wednesday he believed he may be the only \u201cdual bankrupt\u201d in the world.<\/p>\n

He made the comment in a case in which he is representing himself in his challenge to the validity of the appointment of the Irish officials who oversaw and continue to oversee his bankruptcy estate. <\/p>\n

The businessman (71) was adjudicated a bankrupt in the United States<\/a> and in Ireland in 2013, with bank debts of hundreds of millions of euro. He remains a bankrupt in both jurisdictions.<\/p>\n

His Irish bankruptcy was extended in 2018 for a further 12 years because of material non-cooperation with the Official Assignee (OA) who looks after bankrupts\u2019 estates. The extension was granted on the application of Chris Lehane, who was then the OA.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Dunne began his cross-examination of Lehane during the first day of the High Court hearing. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Sean Dunne files objection with US court to stop $3.8m being paid to his former wives, and lawyersOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He is challenging the validity of Lehane\u2019s appointment as OA in 2008 as well as that of Lehane\u2019s successors as officials overseeing his bankruptcy, Michael Larkin and Michael McNaughton. His claims are denied.<\/p>\n

At the start of the hearing Judge David Nolan said the parties involved should \u201ckeep invective to a minimum\u201d and avoid the personal during the trial, which is scheduled to last four days. <\/p>\n

Dunne said there was \u201cnothing personal\u201d in the case he was taking, but \u201cthe State has a role and a role to protect the citizen from unjust attack\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and light green tie with blue pocket handkerchief, Dunne was accompanied in court by UK-based solicitor Blake O\u2019Donnell.<\/p>\n

Barristers Eddie Farrelly, Lyndon MacCann and James Doherty, led legal teams on behalf of, respectively, Lehane and Larkin; McNaughton and the Insolvency Service of Ireland; and the Department of Justice, the Attorney General and Ireland.<\/p>\n

In his opening comments, Dunne said OAs could \u201ctake your family home, take your belongings\u201d and seek to have you imprisoned. <\/p>\n

He referred to Lehane as the \u201cman who had done so much to me\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dunne said he had \u201cnever concealed an asset\u201d and said legal teams who had acted for him in major commercial disputes during his career as a property developer had told him he was easy to deal with \u201cbecause I told the truth\u201d.<\/p>\n

In opening remarks, Doherty said legal submissions made by Dunne in alleging that aspects of the law appointing Lehane were unconstitutional were \u201cjust made-up law\u201d.<\/p>\n

Statute had a presumption of constitutionality, he said, and arguments that documents had not been produced to prove something \u201cdid not come close\u201d to proving what Dunne was claiming.<\/p>\n

In evidence, Lehane referred to a letter, produced to the court, from the then CEO of the Courts Service, PJ Fitzpatrick, appointing him to the role of OA, a role he took up in January 2009.<\/p>\n

He said he had used a letter informing him of his appointment to open bank accounts in which millions of euro were held on behalf of the OA and to authorise the sale of properties as part of his work overseeing bankrupts\u2019 estates.<\/p>\n

He told Dunne he \u201cabsolutely stands over\u201d his appointment and its validity.<\/p>\n

Dunne asked Lehane detailed questions about his career in the Civil Service, which began as a clerical officer in 1978 with promotions over the years arising from seniority or the successful application for posts.<\/p>\n

On several occasions Dunne referred to the absence of documents. At one stage he said there was no evidence to support what Lehane had said, with the judge responding that the evidence was Lehane\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n

The case, expected to last four days, continues .<\/p>\n

*This article was edited on Thursday, February 19th, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"*Now-bankrupt Celtic Tiger property developer Se\u00e1n Dunne told the High Court on Wednesday he believed he may be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,73,61,60,74111,115],"class_list":["post-306426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-high-court","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sean-dunne","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}