When Aengus Kelly, the aircraft leasing magnate, tried to extend his Dublin 4 home in 2015, his next-door neighbours Frank and Peggy Muldowney objected. The couple described Kelly’s plans for number 7, which he bought for €4.8 million earlier that year, as “excessive development by stealth”.
Kelly eventually won approval from An Bord Pleanála for a so-called iceberg development – invisible from the surface but with a warren of subterranean rooms at basement level – as well as a three-storey extension. But he wasn’t content to stop there.
The aviation tycoon has now bought the Muldowneys’ house next door, paying €6.75 million for number 5, which comes with a 150ft back garden on the sunny side of the road.
In 2021, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, AerCap, where he is chief executive, bought rival GE Capital Aviation Services for €25 billion, creating the largest aircraft lessor in the world. Perhaps he has plans for another merger on Shrewsbury Road.
The Traitors host bows out of suit
Siobhán McSweeney, best known for playing Sister Michael in Derry Girls, will be hanging out in a stately pile somewhere in Ireland when she hosts RTÉ’s version of reality gameshow The Traitors. Hopefully, producer Kite Entertainment won’t choose Liss Ard Estate as the location. McSweeney had an unhappy experience there while filming Graham Norton’s Holding in west Cork.
[ The Traitors is arbitrary and brutal, like January – give me more of itOpens in new window ]
The actress, who didn’t respond to queries, took a personal injuries case against the owner of the estate to the High Court earlier this year but happily for Liss Ard, she recently discontinued the case.
Taking a pile off Denis O’Brien’s hands
Digicel founder Denis O’Brien is another moneybags with two adjoining houses on Shrewsbury Road, although he has never sought to connect them. The former Communicorp owner has several properties around the world but he recently offloaded one of his Dublin piles.
The telecoms magnate, who warned of a bubble in the Dublin office market back in 2018, has just sold a house on Sydney Parade Avenue in Ballsbridge for €3.26 million. The buyer turns out to be Julian Yarr, formerly the managing partner of law firm A&L Goodbody, one of Dublin’s so-called big six.
Tough week for Tom de Paor
It was a tough week for architect Tom de Paor, once described by the Royal Institute of British Architects as “the leading Irish architect of his generation”. One of his best-known creations, Galway’s art house Pálás cinema, announced it is to close after suffering “stark” financial losses.
[ Tom de Paor: ‘A door should be a door, but also much more’Opens in new window ]
De Paor was also on the receiving end of bad news from Wicklow County Council, which has refused him retention permission for a series of works at his farmhouse home, Dysart, located on Bray Head. The architect had sought retrospective approval to turn several outbuildings into a series of residential spaces around a courtyard. But the council has ruled that the location is not suitable for further residential development because of the poor sightlines from the farm entrance.
Back to the drawing board.
Ex-Greens candidate in the red again
Leslie O’Hora ran for the Green Party in the Carrick-on-Shannon electoral area earlier this year at the age of 71, telling The Irish Times his interest was prompted by being part of the anti-fracking movement in Leitrim. O’Hora, who works as an energy broker, suffered the same fate as many of his Green Party colleagues, failing to get elected. His name pops up in the latest issue of that most unwelcome place – Stubbs Gazette.
Last week Revenue registered a judgment of €29,746 against him, his third such judgment from the taxman over the last six years.
Artist objects to Magdalene laundry plans
Cork artist and campaigner Maureen Considine has lodged a submission on the OPW’s plans to turn the State’s last Magdalene laundry on Seán McDermott Street in Dublin 1 into a national memorial centre, alongside a new social housing development.
Considine has called for an oral hearing into the conversion of the Victorian building, which she claims is virtually unknown about outside the local area and among activists. She says removing the high boundary walls will “erase visual indicators of this site as a carceral institution”. She claims there has been “limited national discussion” about the project and that survivors are split by the project, with some “vehemently opposing it”.
She has also questioned plans for a memorial garden given that it “bears resemblance to a cloister which is problematic given the subject matter”.
Imma patrons get dinner plus a trip with the boss
This column recently reported how benefactors who pay €10,000 each to the Abbey Theatre under the Guardians scheme get to enjoy an evening dinner with the directors, Caitríona McLaughlin and Mark O’Brien, as well as other perks such as backstage passes and invitations to social events.
Members of the Irish Museum of Modern Arts’ (Imma) newly established Collectors Circle get even more bang for their 10,000 bucks. As well as a private tour of the gallery with Imma’s director, Annie Fletcher, they also get access to “an exclusive International trip”, accompanied by the director, to “a prestigious international art fair or biennial”.
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