A singer from Co Roscommon who bought Bartragh island off the Mayo coast in the mid-1990s, reportedly since sold to golfer Nick Faldo for £2.5 million, told the High Court yesterday he recognised at the time the island had "golf potential".
Mr Sean Simon, who agreed he owned a castle, has an address at Deerpark, Loughrea, Boyle, and is the defendant in proceedings brought by a psychotherapist and psychologist, Ms Mary Molloy, of Quay Road, Killala, Co Mayo, who claims she had an option to buy the island from Mr Simon.
Ms Molloy is seeking specific performance of an agreement with Mr Simon entered into on November 8th, 1996, under which she was granted the option to buy Bartragh island and smaller islands.
Mr Simon claims Ms Molloy failed to exercise her option to buy the island within the 90 days stipulated in the agreement, and he was therefore entitled to embark on selling the property. Under the agreement, once the island was sold and following all deductions, the balance would be divided 80 per cent to himself and 20 per cent to Ms Molloy, he claims.
The court has heard that Ms Molloy, who had owned the island since 1989, had got into financial difficulties, and the Irish Permanent Building Society put the island up for sale. Ms Molloy claimed she agreed with Mr Simon that he would provide money to pay off the Irish Permanent and allow her to buy back the island.
Yesterday Mr Simon said he had seen the island advertised for sale and knew it from when he was a child. He recognised it had golf potential and thought that, if he could buy it for around IR£300,000, he could make a sale for substantially more if he could find the right golfer to buy it. In that case they could "all be winners".
Ms Molloy rang him a few times asking if he would give her help. They had an agreement that she had an option to buy back the island. In raising the funds, his position was that he was buying it to sell it.
Ms Marguerite Brack, a German national, said she gave Ms Molloy DM369,000 for a period of six months. For 13 years she had been asking for the money back, Ms Brack said.
The hearing continues today.