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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
July 2017 1 1
O
NE OF the more intriguing stories sur
-
rounding the property disposals of
NAMA concerns the sale of the his-
toric Kilcooley Abbey Estate in
Gortnahoe, County Tipperary.
In late 2013, the estate comprising an 18th
century mansion, 220 acres of farmland, five
staff houses, courtyard buildings, a lake, boat-
house and a 12th century Cistercian abbey and
chapel was sold for a reported €2.1m to Newry
businessman, Tom O’Gorman. He also pur-
chased the freehold on 950 acres of adjoining
woodland which had been leased by Coillte for
many years for what is said to be a sum of €1.5m.
The figures are unclear because neither the
estate agents, Colliers, which handled the sale
nor Bannons the receiver acting for NAMA which
offloaded the property can confirm how much
actually changed hands in the transaction. What
makes the Kilcooley Abbey so interesting is the
manner in which the sale was organised and how
O’Gorman ended up as the successful bidder for
the property.
Originally owned by the Ponsonby family, the
Kilcooley Abbey estate was purchased in 2008
by John McCann, a property developer from
Crossmaglen and principal of the Castleway
Group, who paid some €6-€8m for the house
and lands, not including the forestry. McCann’s
loans went into NAMA soon after, and he was
chased all the way to the US for the €114m debt.
McCann had acquired properties and built
developments, north and south, during the
boom years and also invested in the US includ-
ing in an airport business park in Philadelphia,
before his business collapsed in the wake of the
crash.
In 2011, the Kilcooley Abbey estate was put up
for sale through Colliers and attracted interest
from various parties, including Mary and Jim
Redmond, an Irish couple living in London.
They visited the property in 2012 and made an
initial offer of €1.8m but were informed soon
afterwards it was going to be sold to a higher
bidder. A year later they discovered that the
estate was up for sale again and they expressed
their interest in spending up to €2.1m.
By this time the property was in the hands of
Bannon, who were appointed as receivers by
NAMA over McCann’s assets. On 22 August,
2013, Marcus Magnier of Colliers informed the
Redmonds that their offer had been rejected by
the receiver who had signed a contract with
another party at “an acceptable level”.
Jim Redmond wrote to NAMA to complain
about the sales process, which he claimed was
neither open nor transparent. He also contacted
the office of finance minister, Michael Noonan,
to complain about what they considered was
unfair treatment by NAMA and its agents.
They received a letter from NAMA spokesper
-
son, Martin Whelan, to say that the agency was
advised by Bannons that due process was
adhered to throughout the sale. It soon emerged
that O’Gorman had purchased the estate and
had also bought out the freehold on the forestry
from Coillte.
Efforts by the Redmonds to find out how much
was paid, and why the fact that the Coillte-
leased lands were also potentially available was
not disclosed during their discussions with Col-
liers and Bannons, were unsuccessful. A
complaint to NAMA, questions raised in the Dáil
on their behalf and attempts to acquire informa
-
tion under the Aarhus convention on
environmental information, proved fruitless.
The only information about the purchase came
through the property pages of various media
which confirmed that O’Gorman, an oil and gas
entrepreneur, had bought the estate and forest.
O’Gorman was also the successful bidder for
the 160-acre Blarney Golf Resort and hotel near
Cork city in early 2014 which he boasted he had
purchased ‘sight unseen’ for a reported €2.5m
in a sale also handled by Colliers. He said he
intended to invest a further €500,000 upgrading
the leisure and hotel complex.
Meanwhile, NAMA was chasing McCann for
the debts he incurred and it was suggested that
he had relocated from the US to Switzerland. The
agency failed in a recent attempt in the US courts
to get control of his assets including the pro-
ceeds of the sale of the airport business park.
In 2015, it was reported that O’Gorman was
hoping to sell Kilcooley for more than twice what
he reportedly paid for it but up to early this year
the property was registered at the address of his
company in Dundalk.
He has since erected gates and fencing to pre-
vent local people from straying across his lands
along traditional walking routes as the value of
the property continues to soar. Once again, a
NAMA sale has enriched those with pockets
deep enough to invest and impatient enough to
sell it on, before NAMA’s long work is done.
The episode tends to suggest those who have
not asked the right questions have had less
chance of purchasing NAMA properties.
If Kilcooley Abbey sale had
been more transparent it
might have fetched more
money for the state
By Frank Connolly
NAMAteur
mistakes
O’Gorman had purchased
the estate and the freehold
on the forestry from Coillte.
Efforts by the Redmonds to
find out why they were not
told of the Coillte-leased
lands’ availability were
unsuccessful
Kilcooley Abbey Estate
