THE "accidental" purchase of a restaurant in a side street in Cork brought Robin Power into the property business in 1973. At the height of his property career the Cork dentist's shareholding in Power Corporation was worth £33 million. His partners in deals included the high profile US property developer Donald Trump and British boxer turned property developer George Walker.

But in 1995 Mr Power resigned from a troubled Power Corporation to facilitate its restructuring. He had personal debts of some £8 million - money he had borrowed to buy company shares. Despite these difficulties Mr Power has returned to the property market in recent months, buying property in Dublin and Cork. This week he paid more than £740,000 for two properties in Dublin.

From dividing the original Cork restaurant into three fashion shops and renting them, Mr Power moved on to buying and developing retail and office property in Dublin and Cork. Developing shopping centres was his speciality. Properties in the Power portfolio included the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre (which the company still owns) and the Investment Bank of Ireland at Leeson Street Bridge.

After a number of successful deals in Ireland and Britain, Mr Power brought his company to the stock market in 1987. Power was floated at 110p per share, valuing the company at £50 million.

The company raised funds from shareholders to increase its British portfolio and to move into the US property market, buying prime properties on the west coast and in New York and Florida.

But the heavily indebted company was pushed into a precarious financial position as property values in the US and Britain slumped and its partners ran into difficulties. The shares, which peaked at 215p in 1990 and had fallen to 27p by late 1992, were suspended at 1 1/2p in October 1995.

At the height of Mr Power's career his company had a stock market value of about £230 million.