Michael Flatley has been given until 12.30pm on Tuesday to refinance a €5.7million loan, and save his Castlehyde mansion from the receivers.
His legal team have promised the High Court the refinance package will be completed by then, after missing a 2pm deadline on Monday.
Judge Mark Sanfey had warned Flatley’s lawyers that he would take ‘an extremely dim view’ if the transaction was not completed on Monday. However, at 2pm, Kelley Smith, the barrister for Novellus Finance, which issued the original loan secured against Flatley’s Cork home, said the payment had ‘simply not been made’.
Ms Smith asked the court to stop the ‘continuing treadmill’ of mentions of the case before the court. She urged Judge Sanfey to give an immediate judgment on her client’s bid to set aside an interim injunction preventing the receiver taking further steps to seize Castlehyde.
‘The sky is not going to fall if the court gives its ruling, the redemption will still occur,’ she said. Ronnie Hudson, Mr Flatley’s barrister, instructed by solicitor Maxwell Mooney, responded that the final redemption figure had been received. He said the transfer would be made, but it might not hit the accounts of the solicitors for Novellus immediately.
Business tycoons Luke Comer and Maurice Regan were said earlier this year to be poised to help Flatley and his company Blackbird Film Productions redeem the loan. Flatley has reportedly put up part of his whiskey business, Flatley Whiskey, as collateral for the new loan.
The original loan made in 2023 to Blackbird Film Productions by Novellus Finance required monthly repayments of €67,000, the High Court has been told. Flatley provided a guarantee for the loan on the strength of the value of his Castlehyde mansion.
Best known for Riverdance and Lord of the Dance, the 66-year-old also wrote, directed and starred in a spy movie called Blackbird, released in 2022. Novellus Finance claimed Blackbird Film Productions defaulted on the loan – a claim Flatley has denied. As a result of the alleged default, Novellus appointed a receiver over the property.
Judge Sanfey ruled that he would give the Flatley side until 12.30pm on Tuesday, when he will hear again from the parties on whether the full redemption amount has been paid.
The High Court heard last week that Flatley was flying into the Dublin at the weekend to sign the necessary documents for the refinance deal to go ahead. Mr Hudson told the court on Monday morning that after ‘substantial engagement’ at the weekend, ‘everything has been signed’.
The judge noted Novellus’s lawyers had used the word ‘exhausting’ in relation to the matter. He said it was ‘an accurate word’. He went on to say that, when the case is mentioned today, if the money has been transferred to Novellus’s solicitors, he will hear the parties on the order to be made. He warned that if the money has not been transferred, he will give judgment regarding the injunction against the receiver on Wednesday.
Outside court, it has been reported that Flatley flew into Dublin from Monaco on Friday with his close friend Prince Albert, on the royal’s private jet. He met with Brian Comer, the businessman and brother of Luke Comer, in the Shelbourne Hotel before attending the rugby game between Ireland and France at the Aviva Stadium.
Separately, the Commercial Court is handling a case taken by Flatley, in which he claims Castlehyde is no longer safe to live in. The defendants in that case include his former insurers and Austin Newport Group Limited, the alleged main contractor that carried out over €4million worth of remediation works on Castlehyde after a fire in 2016.
The dancer, who is battling cancer, claims those works did not deal with toxic ‘carcinogenic’ PVC residue or chloride contamination caused by smoke damage from the fire, which he says was present on the walls and furniture. He claims he needs €30million to make the property safe for himself and his family.
