RECEIVERS RETURN TO BURNCOURT EQUESTRIAN CENTRE
Receivers this week twice visited Margaret Hanrahan at her Burncourt Equestrian Centre on Monday, August 15 and also again on Tuesday, August 16.
Margaret told The Avondhu that she is worried that they are attempting to force starvation upon her animals to get them off the land.
“They came in and ploughed the land with the intention of starving the horses,” she claims.
“We now have to keep the horses in a small yard and they cannot graze as the sod has been turned.”
And, in a further development on Monday last, gardai were called to the scene as neighbours and friends of Margaret Hanrahan gathered to offer support. The receivers arrived for the first time on Wednesday, July 20th last and began by taking control of all the property surrounding the house owned by Ms Hanrahan.
“I had leased the land to local farmers who had horses and cattle grazing there. They were contacted by the receiver and told to remove their animals or face having them impounded,” Margaret said at the time.
She had also previously alleged that the receivers were aggressive in their actions.
BORROWED €1.2M
Margaret decided to expand her business by purchasing land which she could use for her equestrian business. She requested a loan of €1.2 million which was granted on the strength of the sale of some other properties that were in her ownership.
She previously told The Avondhu: “ACC sent an ‘expert’ out to look over the land I wanted to buy and said that it was good land. I’m not a farmer, so I decided to get an independent agri-consultant in to have a look around the land and let me know what he thought. Again, the report that came back was very positive, so I went ahead with the loan.”
Margaret then discovered problems with her newly acquired land. It was flooded and needed drainage and reseeding. Bringing the land up to standard cost Ms Hanrahan another €100,000.
The agreement with ACC was that Margaret would not have to repay the loan for another two years so she could dispose of her other properties. She found it very difficult to sell her properties.
“One of them hadn’t sold within the 2 year time frame and ACC came looking for their money,” she alleged in conversation with The Avondhu.
Published:
Tuesday 23rd August 11:45am
