Denis O'Brien (born 19 April 1958) is an Irish
billionaire
A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...
businessman, and the founder and owner of
Digicel
Digicel is a Jamaican and Caribbean mobile phone network and home entertainment provider operating in 33 markets worldwide.
Digicel has operated in several countries, including Guyana, Fiji, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, Suriname, and Ja ...
.
He was listed among the World's Top 200 Billionaires in 2015 and was Ireland's richest native-born citizen for a period of several years.
His business interests have also extended to aircraft leasing (
Aergo Capital
Aergo Capital Limited was founded in 1999 as an aircraft leasing and trading company. In October 2014, Aergo Capital partnered with CarVal Investors and is now under the ownership of funds managed by Carval Investors.
Since inception, Aergo has ...
), utilities support (
Actavo), petroleum (
Topaz Energy
Topaz was an Irish petroleum retail chain owned by the Canadian multinational, Couche-Tard, which had a presence across the island of Ireland. The legal entity was formed in 2005 and previously traded under the Statoil and Shell brands, until 200 ...
),
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
(a minority shareholder of
Celtic F.C.
The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...
), and healthcare (
Beacon Hospital
Beacon Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal Beacon) is a privately owned full-service teaching hospital located in the Sandyford suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The hospital was developed by Beacon Medical Group (BMG).
History
Beacon Hospital signed an affiliati ...
). As former chairman of the
Esat Digifone
Telefónica Ireland was a broadband and telecommunications provider in Ireland that traded under the O2 brand (typeset as O2). O2 Ireland was previously called Esat Digifone when it was owned by Esat Telecommunications (and Telenor) from 1997 ...
consortium, O'Brien was questioned by the
Moriarty Tribunal
The Moriarty Tribunal, officially called the Tribunal of Inquiry into certain Payments to Politicians and Related Matters, was an Irish Tribunal of Inquiry established in 1997 into the financial affairs of politicians Charles Haughey and Michael ...
, which investigated the awarding of a mobile phone licence to Esat, among other things.
In 2021, O'Brien sold his stake in Communicorp and the Pacific operations of Digicel. O'Brien engages in various philanthropic activities, including being on the board of
Concern Worldwide
Concern Worldwide (often referred to as Concern) is Ireland's largest aid and humanitarian agency. Since its foundation 50 years ago it has worked in 50 countries. According to its latest annual report, Concern helped 28.6 million of the world's ...
, founding the Iris O'Brien Foundation and establishing a fellowship at
Boston College
Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...
. In 2019, O'Brien earned the Award for Outstanding Achievement from the Irish-US Council.
Early life
O'Brien was born in the city of
Cork
Cork or CORK may refer to:
Materials
* Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product
** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container
***Wine cork
Places Ireland
* Cork (city)
** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
. He was the only boy among four children, and grew up in the
Ballsbridge
Ballsbridge () (from historic Ball's Bridge) is an affluent neighbourhood of the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The area is largely north and west of a three-arch stone bridge across the River Dodder, on the south side of the city. Th ...
area of
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
.
His father created a medical supply company and later a horse nutrition business.
As a child, Denis accompanied his father on business trips, where he learned how to close sales.
He attended
The High School in
Rathgar
Rathgar (), is a suburb of Dublin in Ireland. It was originally a village which from 1862 was part of the township of Rathmines and Rathgar; it was absorbed by the growing city and became a suburb in 1930. It lies about three kilometres south of ...
, where he was once suspended for three months, until the school asked him back to participate in a
rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
championship.
His first job was as a hotel bellhop at age 14, and he started working on building cleaning jobs at 15.
In 1977, O'Brien received a
BA in politics, history and logic at
University College Dublin
University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...
.
While attending UCD, he received a scholarship to attend
Boston College
Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...
, where he completed an
MBA
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
.
Career
Early stages
Upon his return to Dublin, O'Brien was employed at a small investment bank, Trinity Bank, but he left that job to become a
personal assistant
A personal assistant, also referred to as personal aide (PA) or personal secretary (PS), is a job title describing a person who assists a specific person with their daily business or personal task,. it is a sub-specialty of secretarial duties ...
to
Tony Ryan
Thomas Anthony Ryan (2 February 1936 – 3 October 2007) was an Irish billionaire, philanthropist and businessman who co-founded the Ryanair airline.
Through his establishment of Guinness Peat Aviation in 1975 he began a course of events which ...
, owner of an aircraft leasing company.
Communications and media
O'Brien has spent most of his career in the communications technology and
mass media
Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets.
Broadcast media transmit information ...
industries. He has also been a part owner of energy,
aerospace
Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...
, and industrial service companies.
Communicorp
O'Brien was until early 2021 the owner of Communicorp, a media holding company operating across Europe. He started the company in Ireland in 1989, where it has owned independent radio stations like
Newstalk
Newstalk (formerly NewsTalk 106) is a national independent radio station in Ireland. It is operated by News 106 Limited, a subsidiary of Bauer Media Audio Ireland, and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Aut ...
and
Today FM
Today FM is an Irish national commercial FM radio station, owned and operated by Bauer Audio Ireland Limited. Broadcasting since 17 March 1997, it broadcasts mostly music, with a daily news and current affairs programme. Today FM holds a lic ...
.
The company expanded to markets in
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
an countries, later selling some of its stations to local operators. In 2014, Communicorp expanded to the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, acquiring eight radio stations across the country; in 2017, Communicorp moved its UK radio stations to a new independent company, Communicorp UK, of which O'Brien owns 98% of the shares. In February 2021, O'Brien sold Communicorp to Bauer Media Audio for approximately €100 million.
Esat Telecom and Esat Digifone
In 1991, O'Brien formed a telecommunications consortium called Esat Telecom to compete with the state-owned
Telecom Eireann. In partnership with
Telenor
Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwide, ...
, Norway's state telecom operator, Esat formed
Esat Digifone
Telefónica Ireland was a broadband and telecommunications provider in Ireland that traded under the O2 brand (typeset as O2). O2 Ireland was previously called Esat Digifone when it was owned by Esat Telecommunications (and Telenor) from 1997 ...
, which made a successful bid for Ireland's second GSM mobile licence. Circumstances around the awarding of the licence to Esat Digifone became the subject of the
Moriarty Tribunal
The Moriarty Tribunal, officially called the Tribunal of Inquiry into certain Payments to Politicians and Related Matters, was an Irish Tribunal of Inquiry established in 1997 into the financial affairs of politicians Charles Haughey and Michael ...
.
On 7 November 1997, Esat Telecom Group plc held an initial public offering and was listed on the
Irish Stock Exchange
Euronext Dublin (formerly The Irish Stock Exchange, ISE; ga, Stocmhalartán na hÉireann) is Ireland's main stock exchange, and has been in existence since 1793.
The Euronext Dublin lists debt and fund securities and is used as a European g ...
,
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
, and
NASDAQ
The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...
. In 2000, Telenor made a bid for control of the company, but O'Brien sold it to
BT, reportedly making €250 million from the sale.
Aergo Capital
In 1999, O'Brien co-founded aircraft leasing company Aergo Capital, of which he owned an 80% stake. From its inception until 2014, Aergo traded more than 150 aircraft with a gross value of over €791 million (approximately $1 billion). In October 2014, O'Brien and his partner, Fred Browne, sold the company to CarVal, a US investment firm; Browne remained with the new company as CEO.
Independent News & Media
In the late 2000s, O'Brien began purchasing shares of Independent News & Media (INM), ultimately spending an estimated €500 million to amass a 29.9% stake in the company.
O'Brien clashed with the company's board, especially former owner
Tony O'Reilly
Sir Anthony Joseph Francis O'Reilly (born 7 May 1936) is an Irish former businessman and international rugby union player. He is known for his involvement in the Independent News & Media Group, which he led from 1973 to 2009,Dublin, Ireland, ...
, who stepped down from his position as CEO in 2009 and sold most of his INM shares in 2014. In April 2019, O'Brien and
Dermont Desmond, INM's second largest shareholder at the time, sold their shares to the Belgian media group
Mediahuis
Mediahuis is a newspaper & magazine publishing, distribution, printing, TV, radio and online media company founded in 2014 with assets in Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg and Germany. Mediahuis publishes daily newspaper titles in Belg ...
; O'Brien reportedly received €43.5m as part of the deal.
Although he never owned a majority stake in INM, O'Brien was at times accused of exerting significant influence at the company. In 2014, allegations arose that Stephen Rae, a group editor at INM, ordered amendments to a column by ''Sunday Independent'' editor Anne Harris that contained references to O'Brien. In 2015, Paul Meagher, a solicitor for O'Brien, reportedly called INM solicitor Simon McAleese in 2012 to block a story related to environment minister
Phil Hogan
Phil Hogan (born 4 July 1960) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as European Commissioner for Trade between 2019 and 2020, and previously European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development between 2014 and 2019.
He previously ...
.
In March 2018, the
Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement
The Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA) is the competent authority in Ireland for the general promotion of compliance with the Companies Acts, the investigation of breaches of the Companies Acts and the taking of any necessary enforcement act ...
(ODCE) in Ireland applied to the
High Court of Ireland to appoint inspectors to Independent News and Media to investigate an alleged
data breach
A data breach is a security violation, in which sensitive, protected or confidential data is copied, transmitted, viewed, stolen or used by an individual unauthorized to do so. Other terms are unintentional information disclosure, data leak, info ...
. According to an affidavit filed by the ODCE, invoices for the data interrogation were discharged by Blaydon Limited.
In June 2019, Independent News & Media was sold to the Belgian group
Mediahuis
Mediahuis is a newspaper & magazine publishing, distribution, printing, TV, radio and online media company founded in 2014 with assets in Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg and Germany. Mediahuis publishes daily newspaper titles in Belg ...
and de-listed from the
Euronext Dublin
Euronext Dublin (formerly The Irish Stock Exchange, ISE; ga, Stocmhalartán na hÉireann) is Ireland's main stock exchange, and has been in existence since 1793.
The Euronext Dublin lists debt and fund securities and is used as a European g ...
exchange, thus ending O'Brien's involvement in the group. It was reported that he lost in excess of €450m in total on his INM investment.
Digicel
In 2001, O'Brien founded Digicel, a telecom company that operates in the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
,
Central America
Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
, and
Asia Pacific
Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Is ...
. Using the cash from his sale of Esat Telecom, O'Brien used Digicel to build a wireless network in Jamaica. That same year, Digicel expanded into the South Pacific. As of 2022, Digicel operates in 25 countries.
Along with Digicel, O'Brien created the Digicel Foundation, which has worked with local organizations to develop community services, build schools and health centers, and support recovery efforts. After the
2010 Haiti earthquake
A disaster, catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (department), Ouest department, a ...
, O'Brien pledged €3.5 million to assist recovery efforts.
In 2012, President
Michel Martelly
Michel Joseph Martelly (; born 12 February 1961) is a Haitian musician and politician who was the President of Haiti from May 2011 until February 2016. He was sanctioned by the Canadian Government for his involvement in human rights violations ...
of Haiti awarded O'Brien with the
National Order of Honour and Merit
The National Order of Honour and Merit (french: Ordre National Honneur et Mérite) is the highest honour of merit awarded by the President of the Haiti, Republic of Haiti. The Order was instituted on 28 May 1926 and is awarded in five grades to ...
for his investments, contributions and promotion of the country,
and in 2015, O'Brien received honorary membership of the
Order of Jamaica
The Order of Jamaica is the fifth of the six orders in the Jamaican honours system. The Order was established in 1969, and it is considered the equivalent of a knighthood in the British honours system.
Membership in the Order can be conferred upon ...
for his service to the country's telecommunications industry.
In May 2020, Digicel filed for bankruptcy court reorganization and successfully sought a debt restructuring agreement.
A debt exchange was approved by the company's bondholders and took place in June 2020. As part of the exchange, O'Brien agreed to contribute $50 million of assets to Digicel, including $25 million in cash and the company's Jamaican headquarters.
In October 2021, Digicel announced the sale of its Pacific operations to
Telstra Corp, an Australia telecommunications company.
Valued at US$1.85 billion, the sale was completed in July 2022, with Telstra agreeing to pay Digicel US$1.6 billion before adjustments and deductions. Telstra purchased all six Digicel Pacific markets, including Fiji, Nauru, Papau New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, and Vanuatu.
Actavo
In 2012, O'Brien purchased Siteserv, a utilities support company, from
IBRC for €45m; in 2015, the company was renamed Actavo. Actavo was bought and controlled through O'Brien's firm Millington on the Isle of Man.
In 2016, Actavo expanded into the United States through the purchase of Atlantic Engineering Services, a structural engineering firm. Actavo was also involved in the installation of fibre networks for Digicel in the Caribbean.
Topaz Energy
In December 2013, O'Brien purchased €300 million in debt owed by Topaz Energy to the
Irish Bank Resolution Corporation
The Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) was the name given to the entity formed in 2011 by the court-mandated merger of the state-owned banking institutions Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society.
Following a High Court ord ...
. In December 2014, Topaz's parent company, Kendrick Investments, announced it would buy all of
Esso
Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (the phonetic p ...
's Irish operations.
In December 2015,
Alimentation Couche-Tard
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., or simply Couche-Tard, is a Canadian multinational operator of convenience stores. The company has 15,000 stores across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuani ...
, a Canadian convenience store company, announced that it planned to buy Topaz. The sale was completed in February 2016; Topaz had more than 2,000 employees and close to 35% of the consumer market in Ireland at the time of the sale.
Davos and bank directorships
O'Brien has attended the
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...
's annual winter meeting in
Davos, Switzerland
, neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch
, twintowns =
}
Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alpine resort town and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos R ...
, alongside other billionaires like
Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
and
George Soros
George Soros ( name written in eastern order), (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. , he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated mo ...
.
In 2000, O'Brien became a director of the
Bank of Ireland
Bank of Ireland Group plc ( ga, Banc na hÉireann) is a commercial bank operation in Ireland and one of the traditional Big Four Irish banks. Historically the premier banking organisation in Ireland, the Bank occupies a unique position in Iris ...
, and in September 2005, he was named a deputy governor of the bank. In September 2006, he resigned as both deputy governor and as a member of the bank's court (board).
O'Brien reportedly resigned due to increased demands related to his international business interests.
Football
Between 2008 and 2016, O'Brien gave the
Football Association of Ireland (FAI) as much as €12 million to help pay the salaries of senior officials within the organisation, including
Giovanni Trapattoni
Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), sometimes popularly known as "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Italian football. A former defensive midfielder, as a p ...
. In 2018, O'Brien was named Honorary Life President of the FAI.
In 2006, O'Brien purchased a 2.82% stake in Glasgow-based
Celtic F.C.
The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...
from a former manager of the club, Martin O'Neill. As of June 2018, O'Brien reportedly had increased his ownership to 13%.
Other business interests
In 1998, O'Brien purchased Planal SA, the holding company for the
Quinta do Lago
Quinta do Lago is a golf resort in Almancil, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. Quinta do Lago comprises one of the three corners of the Golden Triangle of the Algarve's most affluent communities.
The community hosted the Portuguese O ...
golf resort in Portugal.
Moriarty Tribunal
In 1997, the Moriarty Tribunal was established to look into allegations against two Irish politicians,
Charles Haughey
Charles James Haughey (; 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach on three occasions – 1979 to 1981, March to December 1982 and 1987 to 1992. He was also Minister for the Gaeltacht from ...
and
Michael Lowry
Michael Lowry (born 13 March 1953) is an Irish Independent politician who has served as a Teachta Dála (TD) since 1987, currently for the Tipperary constituency. He previously served as Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications from 1 ...
.
After 14 years, the Tribunal's final report found, among other things, that Lowry, Ireland's then energy and communications minister, assisted O'Brien in his bid to secure a mobile phone contract for Esat Digifone.
The tribunal found that this happened after
Fine Gael
Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil ...
received a $50,000 donation from O'Brien via a circuitous route, although the tribunal also acknowledged that the money was not intended as a payment. However, because the Tribunal was not a court of law, its findings were legally "sterile".
In 2018, Michael Lowry won an appeal over the Moriarty Tribunal's legal costs. The appeal judges awarded Lowry 80% of his costs for the legal battle. That same year, the High Court ruled that the State was not entitled to indemnity and contribution from O’Brien’s telecommunications company regarding any loss that might arise from the granting of the country's second mobile phone licence in 1996. In 2021, the High Court upheld the 2018 ruling after the State attempted to appeal it. Three judges unanimously dismissed the appeal and stated that O’Brien’s telecommunications company was entitled to the legal costs of the appeal.
Sam Smyth
Sam Smyth is an investigative reporter, columnist and broadcaster. He works for the Irish Mail on Sunday and formerly worked for Irish Independent, Sunday Independent, Sunday Tribune newspapers.
He is the only Irish journalist to twice win journ ...
, a radio show host that aired on one of O’Brien's networks, claimed he was fired as a result of his reporting on the Moriarty Tribunal. Today FM responded to the claim, stating that "the decision was made to address a decline in listenership and was part of an initiative to improve programming quality." The Today FM board supported the decision, which was one of several programming changes made by Willy O'Reilly.
Relationship with the media
In 2012, O'Brien threatened to sue journalist and broadcaster
Vincent Browne
Vincent Browne (born 17 July 1944) is an Irish print and broadcast journalist. He is a columnist with ''The Irish Times'' and ''The Sunday Business Post'' and a non-practising barrister. From 1996 until 2007, he presented a nightly talk-show ...
over statements in Browne's articles that O'Brien claimed were defamatory.
In February 2013, O'Brien sued the ''
Irish Daily Mail
The ''Irish Daily Mail'' is a newspaper published in Ireland and :Northern Ireland by DMG Media (the parent company of the British ''Daily Mail''). The paper launched in February 2006 with a launch strategy that included giving away free copies ...
'' for defamation over his numerous appearances in RTÉ news reports on the relief effort after the Haiti earthquake. The court awarded O'Brien €150,000. The case was the first time a journalist had attempted to use the honest opinion defence before a jury at the High Court since the Defamation Act 2009 became law.
In August 2015, the editor-in-chief of satirical website ''
Waterford Whispers News
Waterford Whispers News (WWN) is an Irish List of satirical news websites, satirical news website run by Colm Williamson and based in Tramore, County Waterford, Ireland. The site has been called Ireland's answer to U.S. satirical media company, ...
'',
Colm Williamson received a cease and desist order from O'Brien's solicitor to remove a satirical article about O'Brien. Lawyers for O'Brien also demanded that a reprint of the story be removed from Broadsheet.ie. Waterford Whispers News subsequently removed the article.
In 2019, O'Brien began an action for defamation against the
Sunday Business Post
The ''Business Post'' (formerly ''The Sunday Business Post'') is a Sunday newspaper distributed nationally in Ireland and an online publication. It is focused mainly on business and financial issues in Ireland.
Founding to Irish financial crisi ...
over articles published in the newspaper in March 2015. The articles, which centred around a confidential PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report given to the government in November 2008 on the exposure of Ireland's banks in 2008, identified O'Brien as being among the 22 biggest borrowers from Irish banks in 2008.
O'Brien claimed the articles defamed him and injured his reputation and also alleged malicious publication.
The jury found in the defendant's favour and
Justice Barton dismissed the case with an order for costs against O’Brien.
Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) debt
Through the acquisitions of Siteserv and Topaz Energy, O'Brien at one time held hundreds of millions of Euros in debt from the state-owned
IBRC. In February 2013, the IBRC went into liquidation, and shortly thereafter, O'Brien asked for an extension to repay an outstanding €320m in loans. O'Brien claimed that he had previously received verbal confirmation for a loan extension from former IBRC CEO Mike Aynsley, but Aynsley's position was terminated when the bank went into liquidation.
The matter became public in May 2015, when
TD Catherine Murphy attempted to raise it in the
Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland read ...
. According to Murphy, O'Brien allegedly wrote to the IBRC's special liquidator, Kieran Wallace, seeking the repayment terms he had verbally secured from Aynsley; both Aynsley and O'Brien denied the claims.
On 16 June 2015, O'Brien sued the
Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, the
Government of Ireland
The Government of Ireland ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland.
The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The governm ...
and the
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
over remarks made by Murphy and
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...
TD
Pearse Doherty
Pearse Daniel Doherty (born 6 July 1977) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Donegal constituency since the 2016 general election, and previously a TD for the Donegal South-West constituency from 2010 to ...
about his banking affairs in the Dáil Éireann. O'Brien alleged that the remarks were a breach of parliamentary privilege that violated his constitutional rights and his rights under the
European Convention on Human Rights
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by t ...
.
The Oireachtas Committee on Procedures and Privileges previously rejected O'Briens request to sanction Murphy over her allegations about his financial arrangements, which he claimed had breached parliamentary privilege.
RTÉ injunction
In 2015, O'Brien and Kieran Wallace, the special liquidator who oversaw the liquidation of IBRC, successfully applied for an
injunction
An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in pa ...
in Ireland's
High Court preventing RTÉ from airing a report about his receipt of a low interest rate on loans from the IBRC.
Justice Donald Binchy, the High Court judge who granted the injunction, said that the public did not have the right to see confidential banking information of IBRC customers, and that RTÉ had failed to prove that the terms of the loan were handled improperly by the IBRC.
After the judgment, several media outlets reported that Catherine Murphy had spoken, but did not provide any quotes or clips from her speech.
''The Independent'', owned by Independent News & Media, of which O'Brien then held a significant interest, reported, "Mr. O'Brien successfully stopped RTÉ from broadcasting" details about O'Brien's finances that Murphy had raised in the Daíl. Several Irish media outlets ignored the injunction by publishing Murphy's comments or referring to their publication on the
Oireachtas
The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of:
*The President of Ireland
*The bicameralism, two houses of the Oireachtas ...
website.
In mid-June 2015, Justice Binchy ruled that most of RTÉ's report on Denis O'Brien's financial relationship with the IBRC could be published.
On 17 June 2015, RTÉ published what it called "a curtailed version" of the story, claiming that two paragraphs of the original story could not be printed because they were still covered by the High Court's injunction. The article was accompanied by a timeline of events between February and June 2013.
O'Brien defended the injunction in an ''Irish Times'' op-ed piece, stating that he had been shocked that somebody took confidential files from a bank, altered them, and then leaked them to the press. He claimed to have been vilified by enemies, competitors, politicians, and others for trying to defend his privacy.
IBRC Commission of investigation
On 10 June 2015, a
Commission of investigation was established to inquire into IBRC transactions that lost €10 million or more between 21 January 2009 and 7 February 2013. The commission was initially chaired by retired High Court Judge
Daniel O'Keeffe, but in July 2015, Judge Brian Cregan replaced Judge O'Keeffe as the commission's chair and sole member. The terms of the commission were updated in 2016 to focus first on IBRC's sale of Siteserv to O'Brien in 2012, based on claims by TD Catherine Murphy in the
Daíl Éireann; Murphy was asked to appear before the commission in February 2019, several months after criticising the amount of time it had taken the commission to complete its inquiry, but as of May 2019, she had not made herself available for testimony. In November 2019, Murphy announced that she wouldn't appear before the commission because she was concerned that she would be required to reveal the source of her information.
In September 2022, the commission released its final report on its investigation into the sale of Siteserv. The report stated that while the sale was “carried out in good faith,” it was “based on misleading and incomplete information.” However, the report went on to say that there was no evidence that O’Brien received favourable interest rates from the bank, as alleged by Catherine Murphy. It also stated that O’Brien was not at fault for going on a trip with Robert Dix, and there was no evidence to support the claim that O’Brien had an unduly close or unethical relationship with senior IBRC executives.
Recognition
O'Brien received an honorary
Doctor of Law
A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL ...
s degree from his alma mater, UCD, in 2006.
In 2019, the Irish-US Council awarded O'Brien the 2019 Award for Outstanding Achievement for his work building bonds between Ireland and the United States.
Personal life
In August 1997, O'Brien married Catherine Walsh, who helped Communicorp expand into the Czech Republic and who earlier was the head of marketing for Independent Radio Sales. The couple have four children.
One of his three sisters is the artist
Abigail O'Brien
Abigail O'Brien, PHRA, (born 1957 in Dublin, Ireland) is a contemporary Irish artist and the first female president of the Royal Hibernian Academy since its establishment in 1823. O'Brien's work explores themes such as ritual and rites of passa ...
, President of Irish arts body, the
Royal Hibernian Academy
The Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) is an artist-based and artist-oriented institution in Ireland, founded in Dublin in 1823. Like many other Irish institutions, such as the RIA, the academy retained the word "Royal" after most of Ireland became in ...
, for 2018−2023.
Sponsorships and causes
In June 2000, O'Brien set up the Iris O'Brien Foundation, named after his mother, through which he coordinates many of his philanthropic efforts, and has supported multiple charities and campaign groups, including the human rights group ''Front Line Defenders''.
Front Line Defenders was co-founded by O'Brien in 2001, to help protect human rights defenders globally, and O'Brien remains its chairman .
O'Brien supported the
2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games
)
, Nations participating = 166
, Athletes participating =
, Events = 23 sports
, Opening ceremony =
, Closing ceremony =
, Officially opened by = Mary McAleese and Nelson Mandela
, Torch Lighter ...
, for which he was the chairman of the Games Organising Committee and later the Chairman of the Council of Patrons. In 2004, O'Brien helped to establish the Digicel Foundation, which has funded thousands of projects in the Caribbean and Pacific.
As of 2012, O'Brien was a member of the United States board of
Concern Worldwide
Concern Worldwide (often referred to as Concern) is Ireland's largest aid and humanitarian agency. Since its foundation 50 years ago it has worked in 50 countries. According to its latest annual report, Concern helped 28.6 million of the world's ...
, a humanitarian aid organisation. O'Brien has worked with the
Clinton Global Initiative
The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was es ...
(CGI). After
the 2010 Haiti earthquake, O'Brien worked with CGI's Haiti Action Network and the Digicel Haiti Foundation to help rebuild the
Iron Market in
Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...
.
In 2010, O'Brien was named a
goodwill ambassador
Goodwill ambassador is a post-nominal honorific title, a professional occupation and/or authoritative designation that is assigned to a person who advocates for a specific cause or global issue on the basis of their notability such as a public ...
for the city of
Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...
,
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
, by Mayor
Jean Yves Jason, who cited O'Brien's help with disaster recovery efforts after the earthquake. In 2012, O'Brien received a Clinton Global Citizen Award from former U.S. President Bill Clinton, in large part due to his disaster relief efforts in Haiti.
He also contributed to building 50 primary and secondary schools in the 18 months following the earthquake.
In September 2016, then
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
presidential candidate
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
sent a campaign email criticising Hillary Clinton's relationship with O'Brien, about which O'Brien declined to comment.
In 2015, O'Brien established a fully-funded fellowship for Irish students to receive an MBA degree from Boston College. O'Brien has also been a member of the
Trilateral Commission
The Trilateral Commission is a nongovernmental international organization aimed at fostering closer cooperation between Japan, Western Europe and North America. It was founded in July 1973 principally by American banker and philanthropist David ...
.
O'Brien donated €2,500 to the campaign of
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
candidate
Mary Davis for the
2011 Irish presidential election
The 2011 Irish presidential election was the thirteenth presidential election to be held in Ireland, and was contested by a record seven candidates. It was held on Thursday, 27 October 2011. The election was held to elect a successor to Mary ...
.
Wealth and residences
As of February 2020, ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' estimated O'Brien's wealth to be approximately $3.2 billion.
Some time after his purchase of Quinta do Lago in 1998, but before Esat Telecom's sale to BT in 2000, O'Brien sold his home in Dublin and established a primary residence in
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
.
Media reports suggested that the move was spurred by a then-existing exemption to
capital gains tax
A capital gains tax (CGT) is the tax on profits realized on the sale of a non-inventory asset. The most common capital gains are realized from the sale of stocks, Bond (finance), bonds, precious metals, real estate, and property.
Not all count ...
in the Irish-Portuguese tax treaty, which reportedly would have saved O'Brien about €63 million in taxes.
However, in 2013, the High Court officially ruled that O’Brien’s home was Quinta de Lago, Almancil, Portugal, and not Ireland, in the 2000/2001 tax year.
While considering the flotation of Digicel on the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...
, a March 2006 filing to the
Companies Registration Office (CRO) listed O'Brien's residential address as
Sliema
Sliema ( mt, Tas-Sliema ) is a town located on the northeast coast of Malta in the Districts of Malta#Northern Harbour District, Northern Harbour District. It is a major residential and commercial area and a centre for shopping, bars, dining, a ...
,
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
.
Further reading
*
Creaton, Siobhán. ''A Mobile Fortune: The Life and Times of Denis O'Brien''. (Aurum Press, pp320).
References
External links
Profile of Denis O'Brienat
Digicel
Digicel is a Jamaican and Caribbean mobile phone network and home entertainment provider operating in 33 markets worldwide.
Digicel has operated in several countries, including Guyana, Fiji, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, Suriname, and Ja ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Denis
1958 births
People from Cork (city)
People from Ballsbridge
20th-century Irish people
People educated at The High School, Dublin
Alumni of University College Dublin
Boston College alumni
21st-century Irish people
Irish businesspeople
Businesspeople from County Cork
Irish billionaires
Irish chief executives
Irish expatriates in Malta
Irish expatriates in Portugal
Irish Independent people
Irish mass media owners
Irish mass media company founders
People from Sliema
Sunday Independent (Ireland) people
People associated with the National College of Ireland
Living people