John Byrne (1919 - October 2013) was an Irish property developer and businessperson known for building large offices in central Dublin with his company the Carlisle Trust.

Life and career

John Byrne was born on a small family farm near

Lixnaw Lixnaw () is a village in North County Kerry, Ireland. It is located near the River Brick SW of Listowel and NE of Tralee. History Lixnaw was once the seat of the Fitzmaurice family, the Earls of Kerry. In 1320 Nicolas, the third baron o ...

, County Kerry in 1919. He was the eldest of 12 children, and made money during the Emergency cutting

turf Sod, also known as turf, is the upper layer of soil with the grass growing on it that is often harvested into rolls. In Australian and British English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', and the word "sod" is limited mainly to agricult ...

and selling it door-to-door. He moved to Britain in 1941 where he earned money building and operating dance halls. Taoiseach

Seán Lemass Seán Francis Lemass (born John Francis Lemass; 15 July 1899 – 11 May 1971) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1959 to 1966. He also served as Tánaiste from 1957 to 1959, 1951 to 1954 ...

requested that Byrne return to Ireland to build offices for the growing Irish public sector in the early 1960s. He began by building more dance halls across Ireland. Many of his developments were controversial for replacing

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

and other older buildings in central Dublin with large office buildings such as

O'Connell Bridge House O'Connell Bridge House is a 12-storey office block in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. History O'Connell Bridge House was built on the site of Carlisle House, which was built in 1779 and demolished in 1962. O'Connell Bridge House was completed in ...

and D'Olier House. In the 2000s, Byrne was still leasing offices to the Irish government, and earning more than €5.7 million. Along with fellow property developers P. V. Doyle and Matt Gallagher, Byrne employed Desmond Fitzgerald as an architect,

Des Traynor Des Traynor (3 June 1931 - 11 May 1994) was an Irish banker, financier and accountant known for his dealings with Charles Haughey and his involvement in the " Ansbacher Affair". He became known as "Charlie's Bag Man". Early life and family D ...

as his accountant, and Christopher Gore-Grimes as his solicitor. Byrne was a close friend of Matt Gallagher, and following Gallagher's sudden death in 1974 Byrne mentored Gallagher's son,

Patrick Patrick may refer to: * Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People * Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

, when he took over his father's business. Byrne amassed a site of over 500 acres of green-belt land in

Baldoyle Baldoyle () is a coastal suburb of Dublin's northside. It is located in the southeastern part of the jurisdiction of Fingal, Ireland, developed from a former fishing village. Baldoyle is also a civil parish in the barony of Coolock within t ...

during the 1960s and 1970s, including a former Baldoyle racecourse. It was through the development of this land, which had previously been precluded from development, that led to links being drawn between Byrne and

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 ...

. In May 1970, Haughey attended a meeting between senior officials of

Dublin Corporation Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660-1661, even more sign ...

and Byrne during which the development of this land was discussed including the racecourse. In 1999 Byrne sold the racecourse to

Sean Mulryan Sean Mulryan (born September 1954) is an Irish property developer, and the founder and chairman and CEO of the Ballymore Group, a Dublin-based international property development company. He was named on the '' Estates Gazette'' 2017 'Power List' ...

. In 1971, Byrne established two trusts with the Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust. During 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 ...

, Byrne claimed that he never gave Haughey "a penny in his life, or a pound" when confronted with evidence of more than £300,000 of Byrne's money being transferred to bank accounts controlled by Traynor and used by Haughey. He was also an investor in Celtic Helicopters, a company owned by Haughey's son, Ciarán. Byrne was also implicated in the Ansbacher report, having held trusts in the Cayman Islands in the scheme by Traynor. In 2011, Byrne was successful in having parts of the Ansbacher report which tied him to illegal offshore accounts overturned. He remained a customer of Ansbacher Cayman, being one of the substantial Irish resident customers of the bank. In 2002, Byrne handed over control of his business to his wife, Ciara. Byrne died at aged 94 in 2013. His son, John Jr, succeeded him in his business the Carlisle Trust. The Carlisle Trust owns a number of Irish companies, such as Smithfield Property Development Ltd, Alstead Securities and Dublin City Estates Ltd.

References

Notes

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, John 1919 births 2013 deaths Irish businesspeople Irish businesspeople in real estate