Gynaecologist Gerry Rafferty set to lose €2.5m Dublin home

A former leading obstetrician and gynaecologist looks set to lose a Victorian home he bought in Dublin 6 a decade ago for €2.5 million.

The Circuit Civil Court heard Dr Gerry Rafferty owed Promontoria (Oyster) dac some €2.39 million on a mortgage, including €428,000 arrears, on the property at Kenilworth Square, Rathgar.

Granting Promontoria an order for possession against Dr Rafferty and his wife, Margot O'Gorman, who was made a notice party to the proceedings, Judge Jacqueline Linnane said he had not paid a penny off the mortgage since September 2012.

Mr Rafferty, who no longer practices medicine, had gone in and out of bankruptcy between 2014 and 2016, the court heard.

Dr Rafferty, who represented himself and his wife in court, worked for more than a decade in the Mount Carmel Private Hospital in Dublin which went into liquidation in 2014.

John Donnelly, barrister for Promontoria, told the court that Dr Rafferty had taken out a loan of €2.53 million with Ulster Bank to buy the property in July 2007 and by February 2015, due to mounting arrears, the bank issued a letter demanding full repayment of an outstanding debt of some €2.39 million.

Debt sold

When the bank’s demand had not been met it had issued possession proceedings in July 2015. The mortgage and debt were later sold to Promontoria (Oyster) which had taken over the legal proceedings.

Mr Donnelly said that despite not making repayments against the mortgage Dr Rafferty offered to give Promontoria €750,000 in full and final settlement of the near €2.4 million debt. Following rejection of his offer he had increased it first to €800,000 and then to €825,000 but this had also been turned down.

Dr Rafferty told Judge Linnane he faced considerable debts following the break-up of his medical practice. The break-up had been due to high profile court cases with which he had been associated and High Court proceedings involving the Medical Council and his loss of admitting rights to Mount Carmel Hospital.

He said he had come to court seeking an adjournment of the possession proceedings and that it had always been his genuine intention to reach a settlement.

Cousin

Asked by Judge Linnane where he would get this money from, because no financial institution wold consider giving him a loan, he told the court a member of his family, a cousin, had offered to give him a loan.

Later he told Judge Linnane there was still some negotiation to be carried out with his cousin about an advance of funds.

Mr Donnelly stated the property had now been given “a desk top valuation” of between €1.25 million and €1.5 million.

Judge Linnane granted Promontoria an order for possession of the property with a stay of four months to facilitate Dr Rafferty’s possible financing of a future settlement or finding new accommodation.

She said the best way of finding out the value of a property was to put it up for sale to see what potential purchasers were prepared to offer for it. She also awarded Promontoria its legal costs, which Dr Rafferty said he had no way of paying.