Alan Quinlan, a rugby player for Munster, has filed a High Court action to protect his family’s interests in a stalled housing and commercial development at Limerick Junction in Co Tipperary.
Quinlan joins a scrum of Irish rugby players who have become embroiled in court cases over property deals.
Last Monday, solicitors for the Quinlan family applied to register a claim against land owned by Barry Harte, a Cork-based developer.
In 2008, Quinlan and his family sold 50 acres of land to Harte for what sources describe as “a substantial sum”. In June of that year, Harte obtained planning permission to build an €85m, 269-house, retail and community development on the site at Limerick Junction.
As part of the sale agreement, the Quinlans were supposed to be given ownership of a number of newly-built dwellings.
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Harte, who is listed as a director of 37 companies, received finance from ACC bank. The plan gained council approval, but it has not progressed. The Quinlans are understood to be concerned their rights would not be protected if the bank moves to take possession of the land.
The action was filed in the name of Alan Quinlan, Andrew and John junior, his brothers, Carol, his sister, and John and Mary, his parents. Quinlan refused to comment.
A family source said they were hopeful there would be an “amicable solution”. Harte said he believed the matter had been resolved but would not say how.
Harte is a business partner of Peter Clohessy, a former team-mate of Quinlan’s at Munster. He is one of six co-directors of Clohessy’s Bar, one of the largest pubs in Limerick.
Other players who have been involved in legal action include Paul O’Connell, the Munster captain. O’Connell is among 67 investors who sued the developers Pat Whelan and Pat Chesser over a London property deal which failed to make the promised returns. And team-mate Ronan O’Gara, the Ireland fly-half, was sued for not completing a purchase of a flat in Dublin’s Spencer Dock.