{"id":400338,"date":"2026-04-15T20:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T20:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/400338\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T20:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T20:21:08","slug":"hotelier-noel-ocallaghans-son-greatly-regrets-saying-he-wanted-to-shoot-him-over-business-dispute-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/400338\/","title":{"rendered":"Hotelier Noel O\u2019Callaghan\u2019s son \u2018greatly regrets\u2019 saying he wanted to \u2018shoot\u2019 him over business dispute \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A son of multimillionaire hotelier Noel O\u2019Callaghan has lodged papers with the High Court<\/a> in which he said he \u201cgreatly regrets\u201d telling his father he wanted to shoot him after a deterioration in their relationship due to a business dispute.<\/p>\n

The court has reserved its decision on whether the dispute between O\u2019Callaghan and his sons should go into arbitration.<\/p>\n

In papers submitted to the court, Paul O\u2019Callaghan submitted that there had been a \u201csignificant deterioration\u201d in the relationship with his father since August 2024, but, he said, he and his brother had tried \u201cvery hard\u201d to resolve the dispute through mediation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do at this stage, unfortunately, have a very poor relationship with my father,\u201d he submitted.<\/p>\n

Paul O\u2019Callaghan referred to an incident included in his father\u2019s affidavit that on September 10th, 2025, following \u201cseveral hours of hours of back and forward, tempers between us were very frayed\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the course of the row, Paul O\u2019Callaghan said he \u201cabsolutely\u201d made comments \u201cin utter frustration\u201d. In the early hours of the morning he said words to the effect \u201cthat if I had a gun I would shoot him [Noel O\u2019Callaghan] because he was being so wholly unreasonable\u201d.<\/p>\n

Paul O\u2019Callaghan submitted he greatly regretted making the comment and that at about 3am he and his father shook hands on a memorandum of understanding on which his father later \u201creneged\u201d.<\/p>\n

The court previously heard that O\u2019Callaghan (75) stepped back in 2016 from the hospitality business he built over 40 years to focus on his bloodstock business, leaving operational matters to his sons.<\/p>\n

In addition to the five hotels it operates, the company, Saira, owns the Mountarmstrong stud farm in Co Tipperary, along with about 100 rental apartments, owned by S\u00f3 Living.<\/p>\n

It is claimed that in agreeing the transfer of his shares to his sons \u2013 out of \u201cnatural love and affection\u201d \u2013 he wanted a \u201cfallback position in the event of any future dispute\u201d whereby he could retake control of Saira.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Hotelier Noel O\u2019Callaghan fighting against going to arbitration in bitter row with sonsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Noel O\u2019Callaghan has taken the case against his sons, Paul and Charles O\u2019Callaghan, Saira Company Dublin and subsidiary company Sherborough Development Company, who deny the claims against them.<\/p>\n

As part of the alleged 2016 agreement, Noel O\u2019Callaghan claims he was to be paid an annual salary of \u20ac500,000 for the rest of his life, have credit-card expenses discharged and receive the benefit and control of Mountarmstrong, none of which materialised.<\/p>\n

It is alleged that since 2024, Paul and Charles have attempted to exercise control over the bloodstock business with instructions for valuations and sales, some allegedly done without their father\u2019s consent.<\/p>\n

In his affidavit, Paul O\u2019Callaghan submitted that the bloodstock business was never a personal asset of Noel O\u2019Callaghan and that the board was \u201calways\u201d in control of the company and its assets.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Noel O\u2019Callaghan sold his interest in the Archers building on Fenian Street, Dublin, to Saira. He claimed that Saira failed to disclose to him that the tenant, KBC bank, was negotiating the surrender of its lease on the building, which was sold for \u20ac16.6 million, constituting an alleged material non disclosure and secret profit.<\/p>\n

Paul O\u2019Callaghan claims his father was involved and informed regarding the sale of the building and that KBC had previously announced it was leaving the Irish market and this was nationally known.<\/p>\n

Paul O\u2019Callaghan submitted that the dispute before the High Court was one of \u201cgreat regret\u201d and that his father\u2019s claims \u201care designed to cause embarrassment and apply inappropriate pressure\u201d.<\/p>\n

He claims his father had no entitlement to a \u201cpurported 2016 agreement under which he claims entitlements in respect of salary, credit-card expenses and the use of Mountarmstrong stud for life\u201d.<\/p>\n

He claims there was no 2016 agreement on alleged terms regarding salary and expenses as they remained in draft form and were never signed.<\/p>\n

The arbitration motion was brought by the defendants, which, they say, is facilitated by a clause in the 2024 agreement that saw Noel O\u2019Callaghan step away from Saira but remain with proxy shares that allowed him to vote on their behalf at Saira.<\/p>\n

Noel O\u2019Callaghan claims the 2024 arbitration clause is not operative and of no legal effect as he was never told of its existence and had been misled by his sons.<\/p>\n

He claims subsequent business events amounted to the document being misrepresented and that the arbitration clause is therefore invalid.<\/p>\n

Noel O\u2019Callaghan\u2019s claims regarding the clause are denied by the defendants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A son of multimillionaire hotelier Noel O\u2019Callaghan has lodged papers with the High Court in which he said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,73,15940,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-400338","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-high-court","10":"tag-hotels","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400338","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=400338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}