Irish Nationwide dismissal case settled

A CONSTRUCTIVE dismissal claim taken by a former home-loans supervisor at Irish Nationwide against the building society, was …

A CONSTRUCTIVE dismissal claim taken by a former home-loans supervisor at Irish Nationwide against the building society, was settled yesterday. Olivia Greene, who left the society last year, referred a €4.1 million mortgage application from rogue solicitor Michael Lynn on to the building society’s chief executive Michael Fingleton.The claim was withdrawn without conditions following negotiations.

“The matter was resolved to my satisfaction. I have no further comment to make,” Ms Greene said when the hearing had ended.

Ms Greene featured in a High Court case taken in 2007 by Irish Nationwide’s home-loans manager, Brian Fitzgibbon, against the building society.

In that case, which has since been settled, Mr Fitzgibbon said in an affidavit that Ms Greene had referred a loan application of € 4.1 million for Mr Lynn’s new family home in Howth, Co Dublin, from the society’s Dún Laoghaire branch on to Mr Fingleton.

According to the affidavit, Ms Greene was instructed by Mr Fingleton that the loan should be approved as long as the exposure was not more than 75 per cent of the value of the property.

Mr Fitzgibbon said that when “the difficulties with Mr Lynn broke in the national newspapers”, Mr Fingleton “attempted to deny” he had approved the loan.

Mr Fingleton suggested to Ms Greene that “someone was going to take responsibility for this and that it was not going to be him”, Mr Fitzgibbon claimed.

  • Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date

  • Sign up for push alerts to get the best breaking news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone

  • Listen to In The News podcast daily for a deep dive on the stories that matter

Genevieve Carbery

Genevieve Carbery

Genevieve Carbery is Abroad Editor at The Irish Times