Publican and restaurateur Jay Bourke has dropped a bid to secure a €12million debt write-off and is now facing bankruptcy.
The well-known businessman, who once employed more than 1,000 people, racked up debts of €13.7million, and is facing the loss of his €1.4million family home in Rathmines, south Dublin.
Mr Bourke had hoped to win High Court approval for a personal insolvency arrangement (PIA) writing off €12.2million in debt. Much of that related to Bellinter House, the boutique Co. Meath hotel he bought in 2003 for €2.3million with the late music promoter John Reynolds, which underwent a €16million refurbishment before opening in 2006.
Their operating company went into liquidation four years later, and the hotel was sold on in 2016 for around €3million.
His main creditor, Pepper Finance, had opposed his PIA, as it would have recouped just €65,000 of the almost €12.3million it is owed. It said it would fare better if he was made bankrupt.
In Association with
It also argued that the 55-year-old and his wife should not get to keep their valuable home, due to the scale of the debt.
The Revenue Commissioners, which is owed €558,000 by Mr Bourke, had supported the proposed debt deal, under which it would have been repaid in full.
It is understood Mr Bourke had hoped his PIA application would be supported by a windfall he was counting on from the flotation on the stock market of an insurance brokerage in which he had invested. However, that has not materialised as receivers were appointed to that firm in February. Yesterday, Judge Mark Sanfey was told by Keith Farry, counsel for Mr Bourke's personal insolvency practitioner John O'Callaghan, of KPMG, that the application for the PIA could be dismissed.
Mr Bourke opened his first restaurant, Wolfman Jack's, in Rathmines in 1989, before building up an empire that included Rí Rá, The Globe, The Front Lounge and Eden restaurant in Dublin, as well as Bodega and the Savoy in Cork and the Café Bar Deli group.
The High Court will hear from counsel involved in the case again later this month, about a legal technicality relating to the debt to the Revenue.
