No 'plain sailing' for any Smyth/Monahan business

The personal relationship between property developers Mr Noel Smyth and Mr Phil Monahan was such that any business they did together was unlikely to be "plain sailing", the court heard.

Mr Noel Smyth, executive chairman of Dunloe Ewart plc, told Mr George Birmingham SC that Mr Monahan was an "extremely personable individual. On the other hand, I am a very fiery person. I have a very short fuse."

Mr Smyth said he bought Dunloe House plc from Mr Ben Dunne after Mr Dunne had settled with his family in relation to the family trust and decided he no longer needed Dunloe. Mr Monahan was "somewhat miffed" at the time Mr Dunne had taken over Dunloe, Mr Smyth said.

He indicated he felt Mr Smyth, a solicitor for both men and Monarch, had not acted correctly and that he should have secured the company for Mr Monahan rather than Mr Dunne.

An attempt by Mr Smyth and Mr Monahan to go into business together in the 1980s almost ended in litigation, Mr Smyth said. In the mid-1990s, Mr Smyth was to go into partnership with Mr Monahan in relation to property at Cherrywood, Co Dublin, but the deal collapsed.

However, the two men eventually did go into the business relating to Cherrywood. In 1996, Mr Smyth began to merge his Cherrywood interest with private property interests he had through a family company called Aviette Ltd, and Dunloe. Discussions involving Mr Monahan began, bringing Monarch Properties assets and his interest in Cherrywood into the deal. The plan was to culminate with all the assets being taken into Dunloe.

On February 28th, 1997 Mr Smyth, Mr Monahan and Mr Monahan's business partner, Mr Dominick Glennane, signed the heads of agreement for such a deal. Mr Philip Byrne was invited by Mr Smyth to work on the project.