Estate agent pays €10,000 penalty for using deposit funds given to him by client
Gabriel Dooley, of Dooleys Estate Agents in Greystones, had been given €50,000 by a company to purchase land, but the sale never concluded.
The liquidator of the company later secured a High Court order for Mr Dooley to refund the booking deposit, but he refused to do so.
Following this the liquidator made a complaint to the
Property Services Regulatory Authority
, the body responsible for licensing and regulating the property services sector.
READ MORE
A full investigation was carried out, with the PRSA making one finding of improper conduct against Mr Dooley for breaching regulation six of the Property Services (Regulation) Act 2011 (Client Moneys) Regulations 2012.
This was due to Mr Dooley withdrawing money from the €50,000 booking deposit, which was held in his client bank account, before contracts for the sale of the land being signed or finalised.
The board of the PRSA imposed a sanction on Mr Dooley for this breach, amounting to a financial penalty of €10,000. The High Court confirmed the decision on Monday.
Mr Dooley paid this fine to the PRSA before the confirmation order.
Under the Property Services Regulation Act 2011, following a complaint the PRSA can appoint an investigator who seeks relevant documentation and evidence from an agent and drafts a report which then goes to the board of the PRSA for a final decision.
If improper conduct has been found, a number of sanctions can be imposed varying from a minor sanction, such as a caution, to a major one like the suspension of the agent's licence or a financial penalty of up to €250,000.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
6 hours ago
- Irish Times
Thirty two children from the West Bank watched the All-Ireland in Jordan. This wasn't the plan
The cheering coming from a hotel room in Amman last Sunday sprang from an astonishing source. Gathered in front of a big screen, 32 Palestinian children from the West Bank were watching the All-Ireland final on the GAAGO streaming service. Some were sporting Tipperary jerseys, a gift from a donor. After the final whistle, one of the boys produced a length of string and fashioned it into a clothes line over the bath upon which he hung his precious Gaelic jersey to dry after washing it. Such resourcefulness is second nature to a child who has lived all his life in a refugee camp; as have his parents and his grandparents. The children – avid hurlers and camogie players aged from nine to 16 – should have been in Ireland, but they and 14 adult mentors were refused visas by the Department of Justice . 'But Ireland loves us,' they responded, confused, when the tour organisers, GAA Palestine, told them their visit to 152 waiting host families had to be cancelled . When Mohammed cannot come to the mountain, the mountain must come to Mohammed. A group of volunteers flew from Ireland to Jordan last Friday to give the children an alternative holiday there. One teenager failed to make it across the border from the West Bank because his requisite school certificate had burned to ashes when the Israel Defense Forces attacked his camp. On the day the other 32 left their homes in Ramallah and the Tulkarm, Jenin and Am'ari camps, soldiers shot a 13-year-old boy dead. Amr Ali Qabha had unwittingly walked down a road in Jenin where soldiers were present during violent raids by Israeli settlers. When he rounded a bend and saw them, Amr turned to go back. They shot him seven times – in the neck, abdomen, back, groin and right thigh. As he lay dying, the soldiers prevented an ambulance from going to his aid. READ MORE 'But Ireland loves us,' the children said. That is true, the GAA Palestine volunteers reassured them and showed them videos on their phones of last Saturday's solidarity protests when tens of thousands of people took to the streets of this country. These children need tender loving care. They've lost parents. They have family members in prisons, in detention with no charges. They are refugees all their lives. They are repeatedly displaced. They see the crops being burned, the sheep being killed. They need to be able to spend time without a gun in their face — Volunteer Claire Liddy 'Let them come,' the marchers had chanted. 'They say that for us?' wondered the children. They are not the only ones who are confused by the contradiction between Ireland's policy of solidarity on the Occupied Territories and how it treats the victim-occupants. The Government, admirably, has withstood orchestrated international opprobrium for its decision to officially recognise Palestinian statehood, which culminated in Israel shutting its embassy in Dublin. The Occupied Territories Bill currently before the Oireachtas has elicited accusations of anti-Semitism and warnings of ruination for the Irish economy. The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee , a Southern Baptist pastor and former Fox News talkshow host, dredged the muck of drunken-Paddies stereotypes, unapologetic for his own racism. [ Heartbreak as Palestinian GAA players are refused visas to visit Ireland Opens in new window ] To its credit, the Oireachtas appears resolved to outlaw trade with illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Injecting steel into that resolve is the knowledge that since last January and up until last week, according to United Nations agency OCHA , 162 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. At least 32 of the dead were children. The killings and illegal seizures of Palestinian homes and farms, with the assistance of Israeli soldiers, have been a fact of life throughout the lives of the children watching Tipperary beat Cork last Sunday. As it becomes ever more obvious that Israel is trying to kill as many Gazans as it can while it still can with complicit way-leave by the US, Germany and the EU, Micheál Martin's condemnations have become more forthright and fearless. Yet Ireland's defence of Palestinians' freedom is a strange kind of love. GAA Palestine applied in February for the summer tour visas. It was only at the eleventh hour this month that the Department of Justice notified the organisation the visas were being refused, citing a failure to produce sufficient documents. Stephen Redmond, GAA Palestine's chairman who is currently in Jordan, countered that all required documentations had been submitted; in fact, more than ever before for past tours. One West Bank group having to abandon its plans might be presumed a glitch or merely the pedantry of some stickler officials in the department's visa section, but two suggests a pattern. The Lajee Centre in the West Bank town of Bethlehem has had to postpone its planned tour to Ireland by 40 musicians and dancers this month after failing to obtain timely decisions on their visa applications. It would have been the third visit organised by the cultural centre. The hurt, confusion, upheaval and disappointment caused by these aborted tours can but be imagined. [ Exhausted and imprisoned: how life in the West Bank is getting worse for Palestinians Opens in new window ] 'These children need tender loving care,' volunteer Claire Liddy told me on the phone from the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea on Tuesday, during an outing with the young Palestinian hurlers. 'They've lost parents. They have family members in prisons, in detention with no charges. They live in camps. They are refugees all their lives. They are repeatedly displaced; some twice since May alone. They see the crops being burned [by Israeli settlers], the sheep being killed. They need to be able to spend time without a gun in their face.' Ireland's stringent admission policy for Palestinians also strikes a contrast with how it has treated Ukrainians, who do not require a visitor's visa. Within months of the Russian invasion in February 2022, this country was, rightly, accommodating 42,000 Ukrainian war refugees. Meanwhile, 208 Palestinians have been refused short-stay visas since Israel began its killing rampage in Gaza in October 2023 , according to data published by While there is a distinction to be made between a campaign of all-out war and a prolonged campaign of violent and illegal annexation, the ultimate consequences are the same for those on the receiving end. The common factor between what Israel is doing in Gaza and in the West Bank is an international crime called ethnic cleansing. The methods may differ – aerial bombardment, mass killings and man-made famine in Gaza; systemic discrimination, forced displacement and murders in the West Bank – but they belong to the same grand plan to colonise the Palestinian territories.
Irish Times
7 hours ago
- Irish Times
‘It tastes like an ashtray': Irish pubs lament the arrival of Chinese-brewed Guinness
This promises to be a good week for many Irish pubs in China , bracketed by All-Ireland finals at each end, with the British and Irish Lions ' Australian matches in between. But for some publicans, each pint of Guinness they pour this week is part of a countdown to an unwelcome change that one told me could close his business. Until recently, Guinness was shipped from Ireland and distributed in China by AB InBev , the brewing giant that makes Budweiser. But earlier this year, the company started brewing Guinness under licence in China and the reception in Irish pubs has not been good. 'The feedback from everyone is that it tastes like cigarettes or an ashtray. The taste is not the same at all and the aftertaste is terrible,' one publican told me. Almost every time I have been with a group of Irish people in China in recent months, the subject of the new Guinness has come up 'That's what the customers are saying. They refuse to drink it. We only have three kegs left of the original but other bars have the new stuff and all the people come in and say the same things.' READ MORE Almost every time I have been with a group of Irish people in China in recent months, the subject of the new Guinness has come up and I have yet to meet anyone who likes it. Most describe it as having a burnt taste and the comparison with an ashtray is a common one. 'It's a different drink altogether I'd say. The current Guinness is lovely, creamy and tastes like a great pint of Guinness you'd get back home,' said one aficionado. 'The Chinese or alternative Guinness has a slight burnt taste and doesn't taste like the original Guinness. I'd go as far to say it tastes worse than a bad pint of Guinness back home.' There are dozens of Irish-themed bars across China but a smaller number of authentically Irish pubs, many of them owned or run by Irish people. Most depend on a mixture of Chinese customers and foreigners from many countries who come for the atmosphere, to watch a match or to take part in a quiz as well as for a drink. The Irish Embassy and consulates host events for Irish citizens but it is the GAA and the network of Irish pubs that provide the social backbone of the community The Irish community in China is small and much diminished since the coronavirus pandemic, probably numbering only a couple of thousand people. The Irish Embassy and consulates host events for Irish citizens but it is the GAA and the network of Irish pubs that provide the social backbone of the community. Like Irish pubs across the world, China's double as information hubs and informal support centres, often organising fundraising efforts to help Irish emigrants in distress. And although there are not enough Irish people to keep a pub going on their own, Irish identity is a big part of the attraction of these bars, many of which are renowned for the quality of their Guinness. 'It's literally our best seller, so this could close us. All the feedback is extremely bad with the new stuff,' said one bar owner. 'We sell a lot of Guinness in the bar and people know it for Guinness. So we'd expect a drop in the customer base if we can't sell Guinness. All the reviews we get online are about Guinness, so it has a huge impact.' We regularly monitor and engage with the trade via our appropriate channels — Budweiser China spokeswoman I put these complaints to Budweiser China, who are brewing Guinness under licence and asked if they could explain why it has a different taste. I asked if they had brewed stout before and if they could do anything to improve the product. 'Guinness is produced in numerous locations around the world, and all authorised breweries of Guinness Stout adhere to consistent production standards and specifications. We regularly monitor and engage with the trade via our appropriate channels,' said a spokeswoman. 'To meet growing market demand, starting from 2025, we began producing Guinness in China, allowing consumers greater convenience in enjoying a consistent supply of fresh Guinness beer. The brewers from the Guinness Irish Team at St James's Gate, Ireland, carefully oversee all aspects of locally brewed Guinness. The Guinness stout produced in China has the smooth taste, well-balanced flavour and consistent quality Guinness is renowned for all over the world and the Guinness stout brewed in China has received a full 10/10 Guinness Technical Flavour Score.' When I asked her if this would continue to be the only Guinness available in China, she simply repeated that they started brewing it in China this year, 'allowing consumers greater convenience in enjoying a consistent supply of fresh Guinness beer'. There's nothing we can do, and we just have to suck it up — Publican in China I put the same questions to Diageo and asked if they would supply the original Guinness to pubs in China while they were improving the locally brewed product. Conscious of the importance of the Irish diaspora experience in Guinness's marketing, I told them about the importance of the pubs to China's small and fragile Irish community. 'Alongside our third-party operators, we have an unwavering commitment to delivering the highest quality, taste and experience of our products across the globe,' said a spokeswoman. Or as one publican in southern China put it when he said he saw no point in complaining, 'there's nothing we can do, and we just have to suck it up'.
Irish Examiner
12 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Average mortgage drawdown reaches record level after €28,000 rise in a year
The average value of home mortgages drawn down in Ireland has hit the highest level on record, reaching over €330,000 as the combined value of all mortgages during the first half of the year increased by nearly 19%, new data from the Banking and Payments Federation, Ireland (BPFI) shows. During the first six months of this year, there were just over 20,000 mortgages drawn down worth a combined value of €6.2bn, an increase of 18.7% compared to the same period in 2024 and the highest value seen between January and June since 2008. There were 11,803 mortgage drawdowns by first-time buyers worth a combined €3.7bn while mover-purchasers accounted for 3,947 mortgage drawdowns worth €1.47bn in total. Of all those mortgages, 10,978 were drawn down between April and June. They had a combined value of €3.37bn. This represents an increase of 9.6% in volume and 18.1% in value in the corresponding second quarter of 2024. According to the BPFI report, as of the end of June, the average mortgage drawdown value stood at €330,745 - which is an increase of €28,000 compared to the same point in 2024. The average mortgage on second-hand properties increased by more than €29,000 to €324,688 in the year to the end of June while average home mortgage on new properties was almost €24,000 higher at €341,063. Chief executive of the BPFI, Brian Hayes, said during the first half of year first-time buyers 'continue to dominate' after recording the 'highest' drawdown volumes and values since 2007 and 2006, respectively. Switching activity during the first half of the year also increased by 41.9% in volume - with 2,660 mortgages drawn down - and by 60% in value terms to €732m. New properties, including self-builds, accounted for 34.5% of all home purchases between January and June. By contrast, while the number of mortgages on second-hand properties increased marginally to 10,312 it was 9.7% below the level seen in the first half of 2022. Mortgage approvals The BPFI also released data on the mortgage approvals seen during June which showed that a total of 4,883 mortgages were approved, of which first-time buyers accounted for nearly 60% and mover-purchasers accounted for 20.3%. The value of all these mortgages stood at just under €1.56bn. Nearly €1bn of this was from first-time buyers. The value of mortgage approvals fell by 3.1% compared to May but rose by 16.2% year-on-year. There were 53,191 mortgage approvals in the 12 months ending at June 2025, valued at €16.5bn. Mr Hayes said that mortgage approvals during the first half of the year are up 5.4% to 15,736, the highest level for the first six months of the year since the data series began in 2011. 'While mover purchase approval volumes fell for the fourth year in a row to 4,990. First-time buyer housing demand remains very strong, with 22,903 Help to Buy applications in the first half of 2025, according to the Revenue Commissioner, almost 41% more than in H1 2024,' he said. Read More Mortgage approval values jump nearly 18%
