Ex-Mayor’s Wife Sues Him

Joyce Ring, wife of Nial Ring, Dublin’s previous Lord Mayor, has initiated High Court litigation against her spouse and a Dublin-based business that is now in possession of their erstwhile home in Clontarf. This activity marks the latest in a sequence of legal disputes concerning their isolated, two-windowed, red-brick abode along the picturesque St Lawrence Road in Clontarf, North Dublin suburbia.

Nial and Joyce Ring dispensed their property in December 2019 for €2.5 million as indicated by the Property Price Register. The new owner, Calvet Properties Ltd, is, as per company reports, solely owned by Mr Ring. Remarkably, he lists the Clontarf address as his residential one.

In February 2019, the pair were precariously close to forfeiting their house when the Circuit Court was informed of a nearly €1 million payment made to Bank of Ireland. This was used to settle a formidable €903,000 mortgage debt, alongside the bank’s incurred costs due to their persistent efforts to repossess the property.

In May 2017, Judge Jacqueline Linnane enforced a possession order for the property, which was subsequently contested. By February 2019, she cast aside the bank’s petition after learning that the Rings had secured funding from an unknown source. Their legal representative inferred that disclosing the origin of these funds might contravene data protection laws.

Recently, Joyce Ring filed High Court complaints against Calvet, Nial Ring, and a legal firm they formerly engaged. Reports disclose that Calvet, established in March 2017 with Nial Ring as its sole director and shareholder, is presently in receivership. In January 2020, Calvet recorded a charge to Business Capital and Finance (PC) Ltd, Belfast, led by Gareth Graham, CEO of Belfast Commercial Fund.

Calvet faced allegations as a landlord regarding an occupational lease of four years and nine months, which began in November 2019. This lease involved a property in Clontarf and a third party who wasn’t named as “the Rings”. In November 2022, a receiver, appointed to Calvet by a Belfast based company, was introduced. Although, as of his latest report in May 2024, the receiver reported that he was yet to acquire any assets.

Mr Ring, an independent councillor representing the north inner city region, served as lord mayor from June 2018 until June 2019. He declined to make any comments when the opportunity was presented to him and attempts to reach Ms Ring proved unsuccessful.

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