THE wealthy Graham family bought An Grianan, a 3,000 acre farm near Lifford, Co Donegal, after they sold their Co Monaghan lands in 1989. They had sold their farm in Monaghan for more than £1 million and paid more than £3 million for the Donegal estate.
The Grahams were now to start afresh.
An Grianan is no ordinary farm. Gunnes, the estate agents described it as an expansive tract of fertile land with extensive agricultural buildings and private residences. Included in the 3,000 acres are the 500 acres of Inch Lake, and there is a lucrative milk quota.
National Irish Bank advanced the money to buy An Grianan. The purchasers were Mr Robert Graham snr and his sons, Mr Eric Samuel Graham and Mr Robert George Graham. Almost from the outset, there were difficulties with repayments to the bank These were for "unexplained reasons", Mr Justice Costello said in the High Court in November 1993 when he made an order for the repossession of the lands.
Bank interest was rolling up at a rate of £1,000 a day. National Irish Bank also claimed the Grahams invalidly procured the bank's consent to sell Inch Lake.
Mr Justice Costello made an order in favour of the bank for possession of the lands, with the exception of the family home of Mr Eric Graham and his wife, Charis, who now have five children. The brother, Robert, and his wife have one child and Mrs Graham is expecting a second.
The Grahams were in a state of almost constant conflict with Mr Tom Grace, the Craig Gardner accountant who had been appointed receiver to An Grianan by the bank in 1993. Mr Grace complained that his work had been obstructed by the Grahams who, he claimed, had intimidated his staff and agents.
He sought a High Court injunction to prevent the family from interfering with his work. The Grahams were subsequently jailed for seven days for contempt of court because the interference did not stop, according to Mr Grace.
The Grahams were back in the High Court in March 1994, seeking living expenses and money to pay an ESB bill. Mr Eric Graham was given £300 a week. His father and brother were both given £200 a week. The ESB bill, amounting to £6,177.51, was to be paid from the proceeds of milk they sold to Donegal Creameries.
The family appealed to the Supreme Court against the previous ruling by Mr Justice Costello in the High Court. In May 1994, the Supreme Court not alone disallowed the appeal but ordered the Graham brothers out of their family homes. The order did not apply to Mr Robert Graham snr and his wife, Sarah, as they had a different mortgage arrangement.
It was back to the High Court in November 1994 where the Grahams had to answer charges from Mr Grace that they were attempting to evade a court order by setting up a company using relatives and wives as directors to sell milk in Northern Ireland.
Although the Grahams insist they were prepared to be reasonable and open to compromise at all times, Mr Grace said yesterday the opposite was the case. In a statement, Mr Grace said he and his team had held numerous meetings with the Grahams since he was appointed liquidator "but no meaningful proposals were ever forthcoming from the Graham family".
A spokeswoman for Mr Grace said he had been forced to call in the Acting Sheriff for Donegal to secure vacant possession of An Grianan.
Tenders for the purchase of the firm were received last Friday by Mr Grace. The identity of the new owners should emerge shortly.