Michael Flatley’s lawyers have claimed before the High Court that “a deal has been done” to purchase his Cork Castlehyde mansion at the centre of a dispute.
Ronnie Hudson BL for Mr Flatley told the High Court it was his instructions that a neighbouring landowner to the Fermoy mansion wishes to purchase it and “the deal has been done.”
The claim, which is denied, came on the second day of the hearing, where Mr Flatley and his film company Blackbird Film Productions are seeking an extended injunction to restrain a receiver from taking further steps in relation to the Castlehyde property.
Mr Justice Mark Sanfey pointed out that counsel could not give “hearsay evidence.”
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At issue in the case is a €5.6 million loan made to Mr Flatley’s Blackbird Film Productions Ltd by Novellus Finance Ltd, with registered offices at St Stephen’s Green, Dublin in 2023, with repayments of €67,000 per month over two years. Novellus claimed there has been default on repayment, which Mr Flatley denies.
Mr Flatley provided a guarantee for the loan on the strength of the value of his Castlehyde mansion. As a result of the alleged default, Novellus appointed a receiver to the property.
Counsel for Novellus Kelley Smith SC, replying to the Flatley side’s claim that the deal had been done for Castlehyde, said it “represented a new low”. She said what was being said was not for the court, but another audience outside this room and it was “absolutely impermissible”.
She later told the court she had instructions to say that the assertion was “not just impermissible and inadmissible, but it is untrue”.
Ms Smith said that “we simply do not know the value” of the Castlehyde property, and they had not been allowed in to see what is there with the naked eye.
She also said Mr Flatley’s “suggested attachment to the property does not follow through” in that he had tried to sell Castleyhyde and did not reside there.
Ms Smith submitted that Castlehyde “is not going anywhere in the short term”.
She said the underlying debtor, Blackbird, does not have the ability to pay and “has no money”.
She said: “Michael Flatley wants the guarantee to go away, be forgiven or avoided.”
Ronnie Hudson BL for Mr Flatley and Blackbird said his solicitor Maxwell Mooney offered to give an undertaking to pay the monthly interest payments until the loan ends next September, but Ms Smith said it did not give comfort to her side. “This has gone on for months and frankly, it’s exhausting,’ she told the judge.
Mr Hudson told the court the Flatley side were in a position to clear the loan and he said if Mr Flatley loses possession of Castlehyde it will be detrimental to the entertainer in relation to other legal proceedings relating to the mansion.
Mr Justice Mark Sanfey put the case in for mention next week and said there was liberty for the parties to apply to the court in the meantime. Otherwise he will give a judgment at the end of next week, he said.
