This week's Dunloe Ewart emergency general meeting was like Hamlet without the Prince, with Liam Carroll deciding that his presence was not needed and that shareholders were not entitled to any explanation as to why he was blocking Dunloe's proposed €18 million share buyback.

It's hard to know what Mr Carroll is up to, but he is sitting on a near €12 million paper loss on his investment, while the interest on his borrowings from Irish Nationwide to buy the shares is not being covered by the modest dividends he will get on his Dunloe shares.

Market gossip has it that Mr Carroll, the biggest apartment developer in the city, has his eyes on Dunloe's prize asset - the large development site on Sir John Rogerson's Quay. But Noel Smyth made it clear at the meeting that there was no question of any sweetheart deals being done on any of Dunloe's private assets.

There are no plans to sell any more of the properties on top of the 20 being sold and even if Dunloe does decide to sell more assets, they will be sold on the open market. Looks like a stand-off between Liam Carroll and Dunloe chief executive Noel Smyth, and that will not benefit shareholders.