A rental property owned by former lord mayor of Dublin, Independent councillor Nial Ring, is the subject of an official notice that it cannot be let until improvements directed by Dublin City Council are implemented.
The house, No 7 Caledon Court, East Wall, Dublin 3, is on a list of 156 properties in respect of which prohibition notices have been issued by the council under the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act.
Landlords are served with such notices when they fail to comply with an improvement notice directing that a particular issue or issues be addressed.
“A landlord may not re-let the private rented dwelling for rent until the contravention(s) to which the improvement notice relate have been remedied,” the council said in a statement.
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It would not say what the difficulties are in respect of Mr Ring’s property.
In his declaration of interests after last year’s local elections, Mr Ring, a councillor for the North Inner City ward, disclosed he owned the East Wall property and that the tenant in the house was in receipt of a Housing Assistance Payment.
He also declared part-ownership of a commercial building, 70 Ballybough Road, Dublin 3, and shares in a company called IMC Exploration group Plc, based in the Ballybough building.
In an address to the council earlier this week, principal environmental health officer Michelle McNally explained to councillors that prohibition notices are part of a process where the council’s housing section seeks to have landlords comply with the law.
During the second quarter of this year, the council inspected 4,278 privately rented dwellings, 2,244 of which were found to be non-compliant, she said.
During the period, 657 improvement notices were issued, and 109 prohibition notices. A “reasonable” amount of time is allowed for compliance with an improvement notice before a prohibition notice is issued, she said.
Earlier this year, a receiver placed Mr Ring’s Clontarf home, a detached Victorian house on St Lawrence Road, on the market, with a guide price of €2.75 million.
However, it now appears that Mr Ring has raised new borrowings and agreed a settlement with the receiver in respect of his home.
The five-bedroom house was the subject of a Circuit Court possession order in favour of the Bank of Ireland in 2017, but this was appealed.
The possession order was rescinded in 2019 when financing was secured by Mr Ring and his wife, Joyce, for the settling of approximately €1 million in debts and costs.
That same year, a company called Calvet Properties Ltd, owned by Mr Ring, bought the house from the Rings. A mortgage was registered against the property by Business Capital and Finance (PC) Ltd, a Belfast company owned by Gareth Graham, a non-bank lender to small businesses.
In November 2022, receiver Micheal Leydon was appointed to Calvet by the Belfast company, and in March 2025 Mr Leydon took possession of the Clontarf house and placed it on the market.
However, in a recent filing to the Companies Registration Office, the receiver said a settlement had been agreed as regards possession of the property. No other details were disclosed.
In August, a new mortgage was recorded against the house, which is still registered as owned by Calvet. The mortgage names three companies based in Northern Ireland. Two are associated with Mr Graham’s Business Capital and Finance. The third, Kinora Investments Ltd, of Dungannon, Co Tyrone, is owned by John Patrick Turkington and Paul Francis O’Neill, of Dungannon.
In May, Mr Ring and his business partner, Liam McGrattan, had the charges against them struck out by the Dublin District Court after being found above the Ref Pub, 70 Ballybough Road, in April 2020, during the pandemic, contrary to Covid restrictions.
A request for a comment from Mr Ring met with no response.
