Bank repossesses former home of Ahern supporter

THE FORMER home in Blackrock, Co Dublin, of businessman David McKenna, who was a supporter of former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, was repossessed through the courts earlier this year by Permanent TSB.

Mr McKenna, who told the Mahon tribunal he was one of a number of people who contributed cash to a “dig-out” for Mr Ahern in 1993, is now living in the Middle East, where he is pursuing a number of business interests.

He did not contest the court action taken against him and his wife, Elizabeth, earlier this year in relation to their mortgage on a substantial house on Peartree Field, Carysfort Downs, Blackrock, Co Dublin.

The couple took out a mortgage on the house in September 2008.

Earlier that year they put their former home, a very substantial property on Avoca Avenue, Blackrock, up for sale with a suggested price of €7.5 million.

However, the detached 743sq m house failed to sell and Mr McKenna said yesterday it was now rented out, with the rent going to the mortgage holder, KBC Bank.

The mortgage on the Avoca Avenue house was taken out in November 2005. Mr McKenna built the house in the late 1990s. It included a bar, a swimming pool and a gym.

Mr McKenna’s recruitment firm, Marlborough, was formerly listed on the Irish Stock Exchange, but it collapsed in 2002. When the firm was at its height, Mr McKenna was reported to have taken Mr Ahern to Manchester on his private jet to attend Manchester United fixtures.

More recently, Mr McKenna was involved with a technology firm called Vimio plc. It was dissolved in early 2010.

Mr McKenna said he and his wife “had some issues that we have had to address, unfortunately. I don’t live in the country any longer. That is the way of the world.”

He said he was now “trying to get my life back in order in the Middle East. I have lots of business interests down there, but unfortunately the downturn came and has affected there just as it has everywhere else. You just have to keep battling on.”

Mr McKenna said he was involved in a mix of activities in Dubai and Jeddah. He was “in everything and anything that is going”, he said.

In September 2006 The Irish Timesreported the Mahon tribunal was investigating a payment to Mr Ahern from Mr McKenna.