Siobhán Quinlan plans almost 670 apartments in Dublin suburbs

Boom-era property financier Derek Quinlan's wife, Siobhán Quinlan, has entered the build-to-rent residential property space with plans to develop 668 apartments across three sites in the Dublin suburbs of Tallaght and Sandyford, according to the Sunday Business Post.

Ravensbrook, a company Mrs Quinlan co-owns with John Gordon, a senior counsel, has filed plans for 326 apartments in Tallaght on a site that has a long association with the Quinlan household. Mr Quinlan is currently fighting a bid to bankrupt him in the UK.

Another company owned by Mrs Quinlan is seeking to build a further 241 apartments in Tallaght. Meanwhile, Ravensbrook is also seeking permission to develop a 101 apartments in Sandyford. All three applications have been made under the fast-track planning system, the newspaper said.

David McCourt owns under 3% of National Broadband Ireland

The Sunday Business Post also reports that US businessman David McCourt, who was awarded the contract for the €2.9-billion State-funded national broadband plan, invested just €116,564 of equity into the project, giving him a stake of less than 3 per cent.

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The detail is likely to add to pressure on Mr McCourt and the Government, which has asked legal firm William Fry and accounting firm EY to examine the claims made in recent media reports in relation to the funding, ownership and control of National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company set up to deliver the project.

Some €38 million in fees were paid by NBI to companies controlled by Mr McCourt in 2020, in the first year of the rollout of the broadband plan, the newspaper reported.

Eir network could speed up broadband plan

Meanwhile, the Sunday Independent reported that thousands of people living close to Eir's fibre network in rural Ireland could have high-speed broadband lines installed more quickly if NBI was not planning to duplicate elements of the Eir network. The report cited industry sources as making the claims.

However, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment has insisted that using existing capacity on a high-speed Eir network through a wholesale agreement would not accelerate the delivery of fibre broadband.

Central Bank backtracks on document approval fees

The Sunday Times reports that the Central Bank has been forced to backtrack on plans to more than double some of the fees it charges to approve documents for securities listed on Euronext Dublin, following pushback from the exchange and law firms.

The proposals would have led to the fee for vesting a share sale prospectus rising from €30,000 to €65,000. Opponents argued the hike would result in listing activity moving from Dublin the Luxembourg or London. The regulator has decided, as a result, to limit share prospectus fees to €45,000 for the next three years from 2022.

Farmers muscle in on Killashee Hotel sale

The Sunday Times also reports that Farmer Business Developments has elbowed businessman Barry English out of the bidding for the four-star Kildare-based Killashee Hotel, which is on the market for about €25 million.

The paper said that the Farmer Business Developments, the largest shareholder in insurer FBD Holdings, is now in exclusive talks to buy the hotel. The development comes days after Mr English was said to be closing in on the hotel.