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Mick Wallace

"W is pretty well down the alphabet, yet they've found good reason to go after me"

Mick Wallace has reacted to a judgement in the Commercial Court against him regarding a 2009 loan he received from Ulster Bank.

MICK WALLACE HAS said he is going to have to decide whether or not to appeal a judgement given against him in the Commercial Court today.

The judgement concerns a €2 million loan given to the Wexford TD in 2009.

That loan was taken over by a company called Promontoria, a subsidiary of US private equity fund Cerberus, last year. Today’s ruling means that the company in question is entitled to pursue the outstanding loan.

Speaking to RTE News outside the court, Wallace said he wasn’t “going to query the judge’s decision”.

“He had a decision to make and he’s made it, so be it, now I have to decide whether or not to appeal it,” he said.

I have 10 days I think. I’ll take some advice.

Wallace was subsequently questioned about the fact the company calling in the loan is a subsidiary of Cerberus, a company whose dealings with NAMA in Northern Ireland he has questioned in recent times.

I’m the first person they have taken to the High Court,” he replied.

My name doesn’t begin with ‘a’, ‘w’ is pretty well down the alphabet, but they have found good reasons to go after me. It does seem vexatious.

“I have no regrets with speaking the truth, and I will continue to do so,” he added.

In court today Wallace acknowledged that he had made a guarantee to repay the money and that he had not done so.

The judge in the case, Justice Brian McGovern, ruled that Promontoria is entitled to the sum of €2 million, but placed a three-month stay of execution on the judgement.

It is understood that the sum of €2 million may be reduced somewhat by the sale of a building on Ormond Quay in Dublin, and that Wallace had argued it is premature to call in the full amount of the loan.

Comments are closed on this article as it concerns an ongoing legal matter

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