You just couldn’t make it up, could you? Tom McFeely has appealed to the British courts as a UK citizen to protect him from the Irish people he ripped off.
Seriously now. As Oscar Wilde remarked in a different context, only a man with a heart of stone could fail to laugh at it. Here’s a guy who objected so strongly to the existence of Northern Ireland that he was willing to shoot a policeman, go to prison and spend 63 days on hunger strike.
Yet, now that his disgracefully shoddy building work has caught up with him, McFeely is seeking bankruptcy in Britain.
Why? Because, as he correctly pointed out to the British court, the Irish bankruptcy laws are punitive, often amounting to a life sentence — not unlike the life sentence imposed on those who bought his death-trap apartments at Priory Hall. McFeely wanted to avail of the more lenient UK bankruptcy regime, and in support of his claim, he pointed out that he is not a citizen of Ireland, but of the United Kingdom.
Nice.
Of course, in making his initial application for bankruptcy back in January, Tom neglected to advise the registrar of one vital fact: that he was already involved in a legal dispute in another jurisdiction — a dispute with Theresa McGuinness who bought a house from him in 2006 and had to spend €100,000 repairing it. Theresa is clearly not a quitter, and followed Tom as far as the London High Court to have his bankruptcy status overturned, a legal action which ultimately proved successful. Portraying himself as victim, Tom tried to convince the court that Theresa McGuinness was taking a vindictive action, but the court told him to get stuffed and now he has to apply all over again for protection from legal action in what he called a foreign jurisdiction: Ireland.
Isn’t it amazing that Tom McFeely doesn’t recognise Ireland as a legitimate entity, despite living here, working here, operating a business here and ripping off our citizens, forcing many of them into financial slavery for the rest of their lives? And isn’t it even more amazing, given his professed political convictions, that he would now hide behind his British citizenship?
I’m genuinely puzzled. When he travels, what passport does he use?
If and when Theresa McGuinness manages to prevent his bankruptcy as a UK citizen, and starts to put the screws on him in Ireland, will the residents of Priory Hall do the same? Will they all try to nail him for the money they lost as a result of his bad building, and what will he do if things get too hard?
Supposing, for instance, he has to move out of his €10 million mansion. What on earth will he do? [Update 10th Aug 2012. McFeely’s house repossessed by Nama.]
Well, he can’t shoot anyone, obviously, but he could always go on hunger strike. It might do him no harm for a while.
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Previously. Priory Hall Builder Gets UK Bankruptcy
Elsewhere, Susan McKay writes in the Guardian