{"id":491932,"date":"2026-06-10T05:34:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T05:34:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/491932\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T05:34:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T05:34:28","slug":"judge-urged-to-consider-very-significant-change-of-circumstances-in-paddy-mckillen-jnr-bankruptcy-application-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/491932\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge urged to consider \u2018very significant\u2019 change of circumstances in Paddy McKillen jnr bankruptcy application \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A judge has been urged to consider a \u201cvery significant\u201d change of circumstances when deciding whether to set aside a summons seeking the bankruptcy of hotelier Paddy McKillen jnr on foot of an alleged \u20ac2.1 million debt.<\/p>\n

Judge Liam Kennedy last month heard McKillen jnr\u2019s application for dismissal of the bankruptcy summons and reserved his decision on the matter.<\/p>\n

Since then, lawyers for the businessman wrote to the court asking the judge to take into consideration a \u201cmaterial\u201d change related to McKillen jnr\u2019s separate case challenging the legality of the same December 2022 loan, which was advanced to his company Cool Dust. <\/p>\n

But the lender and bankruptcy petitioner, Herbert Street Finance company (HSF), criticised the \u201cunilateral correspondence\u201d to the court. In a responding letter, Amoss solicitors, for HSF, said their client rejected in the \u201cstrongest terms\u201d the \u201ccontents and proprietary\u201d of McKillen jnr\u2019s legal correspondence.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Former Odessa Club premises primed for boutique hotel by Paddy McKillen jnr seeks occupierOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Outlining his client\u2019s position to the court on Monday, Gary McCarthy, senior counsel for McKillen jnr, said HSF chose to enter his client\u2019s case into the fast-track commercial division of the High Court and to enter a counterclaim seeking judgment regarding the same debt. This was done after the hearing of McKillen jnr\u2019s application to set aside the bankruptcy summons. <\/p>\n

The Commercial Court is now being asked to determine if the sum at the centre of the bankruptcy petition is due, said McCarthy, appearing with barrister Keith Farry. The bankruptcy judge can take into consideration this \u201cvery significant\u201d change of circumstances when ruling on his client\u2019s application, he added.<\/p>\n

\"\"David McRedmond: \u2018O\u2019Connell Street needs high density housing\u2019 <\/p>\n

HSF\u2019s senior barrister, Bernard Dunleavy, said his side decided to move McKillen jnr\u2019s case on \u201cexpeditiously\u201d.<\/p>\n

Counsel said McKillen jnr \u201cmade no effort\u201d to enter his case into the Commercial Court, which works to hear proceedings faster than they would be heard in the mainstream High Court. McKillen jnr remains \u201cunenthusiastic\u201d about progressing his case, Dunleavy added.<\/p>\n

The judge said he hopes to rule within the next two weeks on McKillen jnr\u2019s application seeking to set aside HSF\u2019s bankruptcy summons. <\/p>\n

He said matters will be left in the hands of the Commercial Court if he rules in McKillen jnr\u2019s favour. If he finds against the businessman and allows the petition to proceed, he said, it would \u201cmake no sense\u201d for the parties to run the issues \u201con two fronts\u201d before the bankruptcy and commercial courts. <\/p>\n

The bankruptcy proceedings claim the \u20ac2.1 million debt arose on foot of McKillen jnr agreeing to pay on demand Cool Dust\u2019s obligations to HSF up to \u20ac3 million.<\/p>\n

During the hearing of McKillen jnr\u2019s application last month, his lawyers argued a court must set aside a bankruptcy summons if the debtor raises a real and substantial issue to be tried in plenary proceedings. <\/p>\n

McKillen jnr, of Torquay Road, Foxrock, Dublin, raised several issues, including that the alleged debt was overstated and the loan was illegal because it was allegedly not a commercial loan made by a registered credit institution but one extended to McKillen jnr personally. McKillen jnr denies he was indebted to the petitioner in any sum exceeding \u20ac20,000.<\/p>\n

HSF claims \u20ac2.3 million was received in part payment of Cool Dust\u2019s obligations, but about \u20ac2.14 million, plus daily interest, remains due. HSF\u2019s lawyers contended McKillen jnr advanced a \u201ccontradictory\u201d and \u201cdishonest\u201d narrative in his bid to set aside the bankruptcy summons. They contended it was clear the hotelier relied on his friendship with David Agar, of HSF, to get funds when he was \u201cin desperate straits\u201d in late 2022.<\/p>\n

There was no evidence HSF knew in advance that the funds would be used to pay McKillen jnr\u2019s other liabilities rather than to stabilise the Pinnacle apartment development in south Dublin, said HSF\u2019s lawyers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A judge has been urged to consider a \u201cvery significant\u201d change of circumstances when deciding whether to set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,73,61,60,59971],"class_list":["post-491932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-high-court","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-paddy-mckillen-jnr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491932","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=491932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}