Browne using TV3 income to pay off 'Village' debts

COLUMNIST AND broadcaster Vincent Browne is using his income from TV3 to pay off debts accumulated some years ago by Village magazine.

The latest accounts for Village Communications Ltd, filed recently, show the company’s creditors were owed €544,908 at the end of 2011, down €260,752 on the €795,260 due at the end of the previous year. The previous year’s creditors figure dropped to €795,260 from €1,064,307.

The abridged accounts show total outstanding loans were €113,696 on July 31st, 2011, down from €128,014 at the end of 2010.

Bank of Ireland has a charge over the assets of the company. The accounts state that one of the directors has given a personal bank guarantee for €450,000.

Mr Browne (67) told The Irish Times that Village Communications still trades. It receives funds he gets from his work with TV3 and pays money owed by Village, he said.

He said the losses from the magazine totalled €1.6 million, over and above the equity that was put into it.

Mr Browne, who sold his home in Dalkey, Co Dublin, last year, said he used the proceeds to pay off €1.5 million due to Bank of Scotland Ireland. “A lot of that was Village stuff.” The house went on the market in September 2010 with an asking price of €3.25 million. According to the Residential Property Price Register, it sold in August of last year for €2.6 million. Publication of the Village under Mr Browne’s editorship ceased in 2008. It is now published by Ormond Quay Publishing Ltd and is edited by Michael Smith.

Mr Browne said he was not in a position to say how much longer it would take before all the creditors were paid.

Village Communications Ltd was incorporated in 2004. Its directors are Mr Browne, Emma Browne and Thomas Vavasour. The shares are held by Mr Browne, his wife Jean, and Mr Smith.

Mr Browne, who writes a column for this newspaper and for the Sunday Business Post, is also a director of Village Online Publishing Ltd, the latest accounts for which show it had accumulated losses of €9,178 at the end of July 2011. The company owed €12,380 to Village Communications at that date.