NOEL O’GARA who bought the title to Ranelagh’s Dartmouth Square three years ago, has been ordered to pay €4,700 in Athlone District Court yesterday after he was convicted of auditing four companies for which he was not qualified.
It also emerged that he owned three of the four firms.
O’Gara (64), Ballinahown, Co Westmeath, became an accountant in London in 1971 but admitted in court that he had not practised since 1973, nor registered with a professional body since 1984. He had pleaded not guilty to nine breaches of section 187 of the Companies Act 1990, brought by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, by arguing that his professional qualification was sufficient to allow him perform the audits on the three small firms which had no creditors, employees or officers from outside his family.
A friend owned the fourth firm.
Claire Gordon of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment told the court that O’Gara was not a member of any of the six professional bodies in Britain and Ireland recognised in the State to register accountants.