This article was first published on 30/01/2011
By: Michael O’Farrell
Investigations Editor
RTÉ broadcaster Pat Kenny is involved in a Dublin docklands property deal with controversial businessmen including Nama developer Seán Dunne and disgraced Anglo Irish Bank executive Lar Bradshaw, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The secretive deal was structured by the firm of yet another controversial figure – tycoon Derek Quinlan, who moved to Switzerland after the crash and has also seen his massive Irish property loans taken over by Nama.
Mr Kenny, who has hosted debates on his TV and radio shows about Nama, Anglo Irish Bank and developers such as Seán Dunne, is one of seven investors who officially registered a business partnership at the Companies Registrations Office last month.
Until then the existence and make up of the Quinlan-designed business structure – called The Lucy Partnership – was not publicly known.
Mr Kenny, Ireland’s best-paid broadcaster, has also previously used the services of Mr Quinlan’s investment firm to look after his RTÉ earnings, which are channelled through a company called Pat Kenny Media Services Ltd.
Apart from Mr Kenny, Mr Dunne and Mr Bradshaw, the newly established Lucy Partnership includes businessmen Pat O’Donnell, William Walsh, Brendan O’Mara and paint supplier Kevin O’Connor.
Property deeds show that the seven men first took ownership of 3 George’s Dock – a valuable IFSC Dublin docklands property – in 1997. The building’s current tenants are NCB Stockbrokers and CIT Aerospace.
Deeds for the property show that in January 1997 a 200-year lease was provided to the men by the Custom House Docks Development Authority – a forerunner to the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA), of which Lar Bradshaw was chairman.
However, the lease start date is listed as Jan 1, 1989.
Mr Bradshaw did not respond to questions this weekend asking about this potential conflict of interest.
He, and other Anglo figures such as fellow DDDA board member Seán FitzPatrick, have already faced similar questions in relation to other properties and deals in the docklands area.
But the relationships formed through the Lucy Partnership also raise questions for other members.
Mr Kenny is frequently called upon to host radio discussions on topics such as Nama-bound developers and the continuing Anglo Irish Bank controversy.
Yet it is not known if he has declared his business interests with Nama developers and disgraced Anglo bankers to RTÉ or its listeners as a possible conflict of interest when dealing with such subjects.
Last night Mr Kenny did not directly answer questions about what declarations of possible conflicts of interest he had made and whether he had considered leaving the Lucy Partnership to avoid such perceptions.
Mr Kenny was the highest paid RTÉ presenter in 2008, when he earned €950,956.
Through Quinlan, he also has stakes in property syndicates with interests in Budapest, Prague and London, which collectively owe Anglo Irish Bank €95m.
He has also suffered significant losses on AIB and Bank of Ireland shares, while a €600,000 share in the Four Seasons Hotel in Budapest is now part of a Nama loan.
Only one of the investors approached by the MoS, including Mr Kenny, was prepared to discuss the Lucy Partnership.
When asked why the partnership had just been registered after more than a decade in existence, paint supplier Kevin O’Connor said: ‘I can’t comment on that, you’ll have to ask Quinlan Private.’
He added: ‘Lots of partnerships have been struggling.
But this has been a good one.’
ENDS
