BARRISTER BRENDAN Kilty, who owns the house on Ushers Island where the James Joyce short story The Deadwas set, has petitioned for bankruptcy in the UK.

Mr Kilty has total debts of £6.3 million owed to secured and unsecured creditors in Ireland.

These include £2.1 million owed to Ulster Bank in relation to the house in Ushers’ Island in Dublin.

Mr Kilty bought the house, now worth £400,000, in 2000. There is a mortgage of £2.5 million owed on it to Ulster Bank.

Mr Kilty owes a total of £4.2 million to unsecured creditors, including Start Mortgages, Campion Property Consultants, and solicitor firms Giles Kennedy Co and Brendan Clarke Co.

In his petition for bankruptcy, Mr Kilty, whose home address is listed as an address in Buckinghamshire in England, said he is unable to pay his debts.

Mr Kilty, who is a senior counsel and a quantity surveyor, lists his occupation as a consultant and adviser on debt management.

According to Mr Kilty he moved to the UK as most of his clients in the construction and property industry, had moved there to seek work. He is currently involved in a number of legal proceedings, including a case against Campion Property Consultants and law firm Eversheds O’Donnell Sweeey.

According to his application for bankruptcy, Mr Kilty says that one of the reasons for not having enough money to pay his debts are that he sold a property in 2004, the proceeds of which should have cleared all his liabilities, but failed to do so. “I have no wish to go bankrupt but I have had to accept that I cannot pay these substantial debts and I need protection from my creditors,” he said.

His assets include a number of apartments at Cahirmore in Sligo, the value of which are uncertain in the current market, but are likely to be worth less than £300,000, the value of the judgment mortgage on the assets. Mr Kilty’s petition for bankruptcy is listed for hearing on March 16th.