Article on Harmack

Dave Joyce

Here is a link to the article on Harmack Construction and some of the excess during the boom years. Now in NAMA :rolleyes: he can still lease out business's like he has with the takeaway on Shop Street, formally Mikes Mulllins shop.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/champagne-stopped-flowing-as-developers-luck-ran-dry-2830213.html

dell1211

He joined forces with Achill builder Joe McNamara to form Harrmack Developments in 2002 and the company went on to build about 300 homes in the Galway area.

And somepeople proclaim his teapot business partner as a working mans hero for parking a cement truck outside dail eireann:rolleyes:

dilallio

From the Indo article:

He became known for hanging around in the company of other property developers in Galway in a tiny pub off Eyre Square.
O'Connell's became famous after it was sold for €14m to four Galway property developers -- Michael Burke, Peter Gilhooly, Walter King and Tom Considine -- in 2006. The widowed owner of the pub, Maureen O'Connell, had left it to the St Vincent de Paul years earlier, but the charity eventually got €7m of the proceeds after a long legal battle.
It was the perfect location for property developers to celebrate their deals because it was close to the offices of auctioneers and solicitors in Eyre Square.
The scenes in O'Connell's on Friday nights became legendary as developers celebrated their latest deals with champagne.

No more Boards Beers in O'Connells

Time to upgrade to Champagne

Predalien

Article is a load of waffle really, O'Connell's certainly never became famous for developers swigging champagne on Fridays celebrating land deals.

Pure Sound

I have heard of auctions being postponed when news got out that he was on holidays and rescheduled to when he got back as he was well known in the property circle to pay far more at auctions then others. These types of people were always destined for a crash and rightly so. This type of overconsuming flashyness is not necessary in society.

galwayrush

I can't complain, i have a small business, and have dealt with them on a few occasions, never had a problem getting fully paid.

Amhran Nua

Dave Joyce wrote: »

Now in NAMA :rolleyes: he can still lease out business's like he has with the takeaway on Shop Street, formally Mikes Mulllins shop.

Bit tricky for him to repay those loans if he doesn't make some payments, eh? And if he defaults, it's you and me on the hook my friend, courtesy of Fianna Fáil.

Little My

Does he still own the hotel or has it gone into Nama?

Dave Joyce

Article is a load of waffle really, O'Connell's certainly never became famous for developers swigging champagne on Fridays celebrating land deals.

So the WHOLE Article is a load of waffle because YOU reckon there were NO developers swigging champagne on Fridays in O'Connell's:rolleyes:

I can't complain, i have a small business, and have dealt with them on a few occasions, never had a problem getting fully paid.

Well, maybe you were one of the lucky one's because these guys owe some amount of money and the likes of them and their exuberant and irresponsible behaviour, let alone the sheer GREED has put the rest of us in the position WE'RE in and for which I'm not grateful for. Many of us didn't make money during the boom times but by God, WE'RE paying for those guys now regardless!!!

Bit tricky for him to repay those loans if he doesn't make some payments, eh? And if he defaults, it's you and me on the hook my friend, courtesy of Fianna Fáil.

Yea, but that's the thing, how do we know that they are making payments. I know Harry and Mike Burke since teenage years and yet I see them walking around, and they certainly don't seem to have a care in the world.....or maybe they're like politicians and are just putting on a brave face. Speaking of which, Mike Burke recently renovated his Daybreak shop in Liosban and that job does not look cheap, where did the money come for those renovations if he is making ANY repayments on the money he owes?????

Amhran Nua

Dave Joyce wrote: »

Yea, but that's the thing, how do we know that they are making payments. I know Harry and Mike Burke since teenage years and yet I see them walking around, and they certainly don't seem to have a care in the world.....or maybe they're like politicians and are just putting on a brave face. Speaking of which, Mike Burke recently renovated his Daybreak shop in Liosban and that job does not look cheap, where did the money come for those renovations if he is making ANY repayments on the money he owes?????

They've probably agreed a repayment schedule that allows them to continue operating other businesses, which again I don't really have a problem with as long as we the taxpayers aren't on the hook for it. Being greedy and making bad investments isn't a crime.

dell1211

Amhran Nua wrote: »

They've probably agreed a repayment schedule that allows them to continue operating other businesses, which again I don't really have a problem with as long as we the taxpayers aren't on the hook for it. Being greedy and making bad investments isn't a crime.

Id imagine(like the vast majority of champagne developers) that they have agreed for their loans to be interest only and also for the interest to rolled up and what they are repaying isnt even covering a fraction of their interest.

The monthly interest payments alone on the crown site would be MASSIVE let alone the other trophy investments these gob****es made.

snubbleste

Anyone remember this?

Predalien

Dave Joyce wrote: »

So the WHOLE Article is a load of waffle because YOU reckon there were NO developers swigging champagne on Fridays in O'Connell's:rolleyes:

Well it's a typical Irish Independent non-story, we all know developer's were foolish in the extreme and have ended up costing the rest of us a lot of money, the article doesn't tell us anything that we didn't know, it's a story that's been told a hundred times before.

ErnieBert

Predalien wrote: »

Article is a load of waffle really, O'Connell's certainly never became famous for developers swigging champagne on Fridays celebrating land deals.

I was at a wedding in the Great Southern (Meyrick) 6 or 7 years ago. We skipped out and went for a few pints in O'Connell's. The place was swarming with knob jockies talking muck about their villas in Portugal and their Land Rovers. There was no champers flowing but the stench of bullology coming from these twats was unbearable.

I don't know for sure if they were so-called 'developers' but I suspect they were.

celty

Snubbleste,

That's incredible! I hope you made that cover up

Sponge Bob

celty wrote: »

Snubbleste,

That's incredible! I hope you made that cover up

Nope, you can even subscribe to Galway Now mag here

http://www.goldenegg.ie/subscribe/

haven't seen it in ages myself

skelliser

when was that cover done?
any larger images?

****in hilarious!!

mikom

snubbleste wrote: »

Ballinasloe special.
No shit.

snubbleste

It's the October 2007 issue.

Dave Joyce

Being greedy and making bad investments isn't a crime.

Jaysus man, you sound like Gordon Geko there . Well whatever about the whole capitalist argument I have a problem when people's GREED and RECKLESSNESS cost the rest of us a friggin fortune. PLUS when one of these Galway developers is getting €170K per annum from NAMA to "maintain" his portfolio you'ed wonder if they're paying ANYTHING back at all.......mind you they probably don't have too, seeing as WE'RE doing such a good job of that for the bastards!!