mikemac2 wrote: » Disagree Even the Lux residents find it boring. Now Cologne, best city in Europe!
Couple who epitomised the Celtic Tiger mingled with rich and famous AT HOME in Ireland their neighbour was Bono, while on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, it was the President of the United States who lived next door. Solicitor Brian O'Donnell and his psychologist wife, Mary Pat, together with their four adult children - Blaise, Blake, Bruce and Alexandra - had what is often called "a lifestyle". They are now an unlikely cause célèbre, doggedly supported by the self-styled Land League - despite being, perhaps, the most unlikely victims ever to be served with an eviction notice. And they are garnering little sympathy from the public at large, despite the new Land League's protestations that an eviction from lofty Vico Road equates to the same as an eviction in Finglas. The O'Donnells' master bedroom in Gorse Hill at 600 square feet, is the size of an entire shoebox city apartment - though with sweeping views across Killiney Bay. They have an outdoor pool, a tennis court, a sauna, snooker room and pool room - all the trappings of wealth. When they first moved in, in the early Noughties, they threw a house-warming party that one impressed guest described as "extravagant beyond imagination", with gold-embossed invitations, caviar, and champagne for 150 guests. By 2005, they had well and truly made the house a home, decorating it with a well- chosen collection of art and antiques valued by Deloitte at €7.5m. All these glittering possessions, along with the house, were merely the rightful gongs for a solicitor whose career seemed to strike not one false note. In 2007, he ranked 91 on the Rich List of Ireland's wealthiest, worth a reported €144m. Brian O'Donnell was one of only a handful of Irish lawyers included in the International Who's Who of mergers and acquisitions. He was once lauded for his pro bono work on the Blaise Gallagher case, where a quadriplegic boy received what was then the largest damages ever achieved in Ireland. After graduating from NUI Galway in 1976 with an LLB, he went on to work with one of Ireland's most prestigious law firms, William Fry, serving as managing partner until 1999. He then set up his own practice. At NUI Galway he met Mary Patricia O'Beirne, a fellow student from a wealthy Galway family, and they married. She was glamorous and notoriously private - until recently no known picture had ever been taken of her. Blake O'Donnell is a solicitor, representing the family in court. At a hearing in 2012, he was described as a student, along with sister Alexandra, while Blaise was described as a jobseeker, and Bruce as a non-practising solicitor. They told the court then that they did not have the resources to fight a case in the big business division of the High Court. In 2012, the High Court in London heard Alexandra "had the misfortune to experience serious illness" in earlier years. Their glamorous forays to the Four Courts, in stylish black ensembles, have done little to secure recognition they were the beneficial owners of Gorse Hill.
Motivator wrote: » I worked in a Mercedes dealership Friday’s and Saturday’s when I was in second year in college. I took the first two weeks of January off college because the dealership was so busy, all I was doing was registering the new cars and sorting the warranty’s all day every day. January 2005 if I remember correctly the main salesman in the dealership made €100,000+ in commission alone that month. It was unbelievable, I remember factory workers and Hairdressers coming in to buy his and hers Mercs. That summer, 4 of the mechanics rented a helicopter to go to the Derby at the Curragh. €2,000 each!
CrankyHaus wrote: » There was an Episode of MTV's Super Sweet 16, a celebration of retarded excess like that, set in Ireland during the period. Most Episodes were in places like Bel-Air or Malibu. This one was in Dundalk :pac:. I knew a girl who was at it. She said the production company had Myrmidons going around instructing the girls to act like complete airheads on camera, and getting arsey when they said its not the sort of thing they do.
completedit wrote: » Hahahahahaha I remember in the episode, the lad was from Blackrock, Co. Louth and I think I recall the teenagers in the episode making a deal how it wasn't the ''real Blackrock'' as if Blackrock in Dublin was ****ing Beverly Hills.
pgj2015 wrote: » I wonder how that guy from Dundalk turned out. state of his hair.
Atlantic Dawn wrote: » You wouldn't need the resources of a CIA team to find him online
ILoveYourVibes wrote: » Everyone was buying houses in spain etc ...like five families together owning a place in spain.
Sheep Shagger wrote: » Absolutely - tumble weed after 6pm.
BrianD3 wrote: » Love the posts about helicopters, a property developer neighbour of mine had one that would regularly takeoff and land in his garden. Not sure if he flew it himself or had a pilot. Anyhow it was "only" a Robinson Just as with cars, there is a hierarchy.
Akabusi wrote: » I know a guy who set up a pluming business and thought he was billy big balls, had the nice cars and bought several properties, that was all grand but he relished in telling people how rich he was and what he was spending his money on. One of his last big projects was to buy land in the local area and build a mansion on it. The crash came and it never got finished, he owed a lot to local suppliers and they got stung badly, Anyone who could came and stripped the house to get back their items windows, gutters etc. were taken back. It was eventually sold by the bank and got bulldozed. He works in a phone shop now.
John_Rambo wrote: » Yeah, there was a lot of talk about how much people were worth. I remember one guy I met through a friend telling me he was a "paper millionaire". Weirdly he was including his parents property (of whom both were still alive and healthy) in his "portfolio".
pawdee wrote: » That's gas. How many of those Mercs were Paddy spec manual C180s with cloth seats though? You'd swear we were living in Monte Carlo the way the media reported on car sales back in those days! Always made me laugh. Don't get me wrong, yours is a good story and I don't doubt one word of it. The helicopter bit is absolutely bonkers!
Hangdogroad wrote: » The Sunday Indo hyping z listers like Gavin Lamb Murphy. The O2 Girls. Brendan O Connor and his infamous "all the smart ballsy guys are buying property now" column. Great advice Brendan only this was 2007.
dirkmeister wrote: » There was a certain bank giving out €800 loans to students interest free back in 2005/6. Crazy stuff, lads used it to get through RAG week.
