The wife of the former lord mayor of Dublin, Nial Ring, has lodged High Court proceedings against her husband and a Dublin company that owns their former Clontarf home.
The lodgment of the proceedings is the latest in a series of court actions involving the detached, two-bay red-bricked home on St Lawrence Road, Clontarf, one of the most attractive roads in the north Dublin suburb.
The house was sold by Nial and Joyce Ring in December 2019 – for €2.5 million according to the Property Price Register – and bought by Calvet Properties Ltd, which company filings show is owned by Mr Ring, who gives the Clontarf house as his home address.
In February 2019, the couple were about to lose their home when the Circuit Court was told almost €1 million had been transferred to the Bank of Ireland to clear a €903,000 mortgage debt and the bank’s costs arising from a long-drawn-out bid by the bank to seize the property.
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Judge Jacqueline Linnane had issued an order for possession of the house in May 2017 but it was appealed. In February 2019, she struck out the bank’s claim when told the Rings had managed to raise funds from an undisclosed source.
Counsel for the couple told the judge the source of the new funds could not be divulged as it might breach data protection legislation.
On Thursday of this week, Ms Ring lodged High Court proceedings against Calvet, Mr Ring and a law firm that formerly acted for the couple.
Company filings show that Calvet, which was incorporated in March 2017 with Mr Ring as its sole director and shareholder, is now in receivership.
In January 2020, it registered a charge in favour of Business Capital and Finance (PC) Ltd, Belfast, which is owned by Gareth Graham, chief executive of Belfast Commercial Fund, a non-bank lender to small businesses.
The charge described Calvet as landlord and cited a four year and nine month occupational lease dated November 2019 between Calvet, a named individual (not the Rings) and the Clontarf property.
In November 2022, a receiver was appointed to Calvet by the Belfast company. In his most recent filed report, in May 2024, the receiver said he had not as yet secured possession of any assets.
Mr Ring, an independent councillor for the north inner city, was lord mayor between June 2018 and June 2019. He did not wish to comment when contacted. Efforts to contact Ms Ring were unsuccessful.
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