The detached five-bed home of the former Dublin lord mayor Nial Ring, in Clontarf, Dublin 3, has been placed on the market with a guide price of €2.75 million.
The house was the subject of several recent High Court actions, including one against Mr Ring by his wife, Joyce. These were settled late last year. Attempts to contact Mr Ring were met with no response.
A receiver appointed in November 2022 on behalf of a finance company in Northern Ireland finally took possession of the property at the end of March, Companies Registration Office filings show, and the property was placed on the market this week.
The house is a detached double-fronted Victorian house with three reception rooms, four bathrooms and a conservatory, and sits on one-third of an acre of landscaped gardens.
The 390sq m property was bought by Mr Ring and his wife in 2006 from members of the well-known Belton family.
The house was the subject of a 2017 Circuit Court possession order in favour of Bank of Ireland but this was appealed. The order was rescinded in February 2019, with the court told the source of the almost €1 million used to settle the case could not be disclosed for data protection reasons.
In December 2019, Calvet Properties Ltd bought the house from the Rings, with the Property Price Register showing the property changed ownership for €2.5 million. Calvet, which does not own any other property, is owned by Mr Ring, according to the Companies Registration Office, and was incorporated in 2017.
[ Receiver settles case against former Dublin Lord Mayor Nial Ring and his wifeOpens in new window ]
A month after Calvet bought the house, a mortgage against the property was registered by Business Capital and Finance (PC) Ltd, a Belfast-based company owned by Gareth Graham, a nonbank lender to small businesses.
In November 2022 receiver Mícheál Leydon, of Outlook accountants, Dublin, was appointed to Calvet by the Belfast company, and the following month Mr Leydon initiated High Court proceedings against the Rings.
Then, in October of last year, Ms Ring initiated proceedings against her husband and Calvet. All of the proceedings were then settled and no details of the settlement agreement disclosed.
A former member of Fianna Fáil and associate of former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Mr Ring was a long-time member of the board of the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) and has been involved in a range of business activities over the years.
He has been an independent member of Dublin City Council since 2009, representing the north inner city.
During the Covid pandemic, Mr Ring, his sons Stephen and Darragh, and his long-time business partner Liam McGrattan, were found upstairs in the Ref pub, in Ballybough, Dublin 3, during the restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the disease, and charged with having left their homes without reasonable excuse.
Mr Ring and Mr McGrattan – the owner of the pub – brought High Court proceedings challenging the restrictions. The challenge was dismissed in May of last year.
Earlier this month both men pleaded guilty in the Dublin District Court to breaching the regulations and the case was then adjourned to a later date.
