Receiver settles case against former Dublin Lord Mayor Nial Ring and his wife

A receiver appointed to the company that owns the home of former Dublin Lord Mayor Nial Ring has settled his High Court action against the politician and his wife, Joyce, court records show.
The case, which centres around a €2.5 million detached redbrick house on St Lawrence Road, Clontarf, Dublin 3, was scheduled to last six days but was settled before going to hearing.
The details of the settlement are not known. A related set of proceedings taken by Ms Ring against her husband, the company, Calvet Properties Ltd, and others, was also settled as part of the deal. Requests for a comment from the parties involved met with no response.
The Clontarf house was the subject of a 2017 Circuit Court possession order in favour of the Bank of Ireland but was appealed. The order was rescinded in February 2019 after the debt was cleared, with the court being told the source of the almost €1 million used to settle the case could not be disclosed for data protection reasons.
Tailte Éireann records show a mortgage against the Clontarf property was registered in February 2019 on behalf of L & S Developments Ltd, a property company in Swords with assets of €12 million that is owned by director Lisa Slevin. When contacted, Ms Slevin said she had not been aware of the mortgage and did not know Mr Ring. The mortgage is not among those registered by L & S in its Company Registration Office filings.
In December 2019, Calvet Properties, which was incorporated in 2017 and is owned by Mr Ring, bought the house from him and his wife. The Property Price Register shows the house changed owners for €2.5 million. Calvet, which does not own any other property, did not register a mortgage at the time of the transaction.
In January 2020, a mortgage against the property was registered on behalf of Business Capital and Finance (PC) Ltd, a Belfast-based company that is owned by Gareth Graham, a non-bank lender to small businesses. The mortgage document describes a number of named Northern Ireland companies as “lenders” and refers to a four-year, nine-month occupation lease agreement between Calvet and a named individual in relation to the Clontarf property.
In November 2022 receiver Micheal Leydon, of Outlook accountants, Dublin, was appointed to Calvet on behalf of Business Capital and Finance (PC).
The following month, Mr Leydon initiated High Court proceedings against Nial and Joyce Ring. In a filing to the Companies Registration Office in May 2024, Mr Leydon said he was in the process of securing possession of Calvet’s assets, after which they could be valued.
In October, Ms Ring lodged High Court proceedings against her husband, Calvet, and others.
Mr Ring is an independent councillor for the North Inner City Ward and was Lord Mayor of Dublin in 2018/2019. An accountant, he is a former member of Fianna Fáil and was formerly a long-time director of the Industrial Development Authority.
Earlier this year he and three others lost a High Court challenge to the Covid-19 regulations which they had been charged with breaching. Mr Ring, his sons Stephen and Darragh, and Mr Ring’s long-time business partner, Liam McGrattan, were charged after they were found by gardaí upstairs in the Ref pub in Ballybough, at around 11pm on April 17th, 2020. Mr McGrattan was described as the owner of the pub.
Tailte Éireann records show that earlier this month a charge was granted by Mr Ring in favour of a company called Wilhan Ltd in respect of a residential property at Caledon Court, East Wall, Dublin. Wilhan is owned by Mr McGrattan.