No, staycation. Going to visit Donegal for the first time. A friend up there has a place and we are staying in it. Hope the weather is good. I hate flying with a passion. Not the fear of the flight or heights but the confinement of the plane does my nut.
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Of course not. Batt will leave this shithole on his own terms, when he decides, or maybe if I die unexpectedly. But until then, Iām going nowhere. Must change my profile pic though.
20 better in Munster
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None are in Limerick though so they lose points for that
Millionairesā row: Why every village should have a shop, a pubā¦ and a local philanthropist
As the recent JP McManus Pro-Am - and Limerickās All Ireland win - drew attention to the benevolent millionaireās support of his local communities, Jen Stevens looks at some other communities around Ireland for whom the presence of a wealthy neighbour has meant huge changes
They say all politics is local and in Ireland thatās true, but something else thatās very local here is philanthropy.
Last monthās JP McManus Pro-Am in Adare Manor put the spotlight on how having a local millionaire can really benefit an area. Sine it first started in 1990, the event has raised over ā¬140 million for charities across the Mid-West, an incredible feat, but much of the talk was on the ingenious ways that JP made some of that support very local indeed.
When Kay Mulcaire took to the airwaves on RTĆās Today with Claire Bryne to explain the boost to business the Pro-Am has on Adare she revealed that JP gives the wives and girlfriends of the players a ā¬10,000 gift voucher to spend in the local shops. As the owner of both Isobelās and Marc Cain, Kay saw a boom in sales in the days leading up to tee-off.
That gift voucher is a pre-paid credit card with a two-pronged effect. It provided a ā¬600,000 boost to sales for store owners, but it also came with a clever set of rules. Kay said that 20% of whatever each store took in had to go back to local charities. It was an incredibly smart way to support the town and raise more funds for good causes.
JP McManus has always been a big supporter of the Mid-West. His ownership of Adare Manor extends beyond the 5-star estate and out into the local community as evidenced by the shopping scheme for the Pro-Am. His eponymous benevolent fund, chaired by his daughter Sue Ann Foley, has allocated ā¬37,460,800 to community initiatives and non-profit organisations so far and supported big things like Limerick City of Culture down to smaller, but no less crucial projects, like the Moyross Community Enterprise.
His passion for the local community is well documented.
In 2006, JP needed some extra lands to ringfence his home and stud farm at Martinstown and a deal was struck with local GAA club Staker Wallace. In return for agreeing to sell its former grounds to the businessman, the club was provided with two new pitches, complete with floodlighting, and a state-of-the-art clubhouse in Kilbreedy West, Kilmallock. All this for a club with less than 100 members. The new facilities were so impressive that Limerick County hurlers regularly train there.
The entire country has felt the benefits of JPās passion for Limerick GAA over the past number of years. When the countyās hurlers won the Liam McCarthy Cup after a 45-year wait, he donated ā¬100,000 to every county board in Ireland. And last year Shane Lowry explained that a congratulatory text message to JP was what got the ball rolling on his support of Offaly GAA.
āI sent JP a text that night,ā he said. āSaid, āIām sure the people of Limerick are very proud, very happy, and very grateful of what you and all your family have done for Limerick and Limerick GAA and Limerick hurling.ā
āI did say to him in the text that Iād only love to be able to do something for Offaly someday.
JP texted me back and said something along the lines of the under-age system and getting involved in that ā thatās what itās all about. Thatās what they looked at, putting good structures in place.
JPās investment in Limerick extends beyond the sporting fields and benefits those much closer to home. In 2007, the McManus family were preparing for the wedding of Sue Ann to Cian Foley. No expense was spared for his daughterās lavish day with marquees, security and celebrity guests. JP paid, not only for a total refurbishment of the local church, but also handed over a large sum to Limerick County Council to have all the roads leading from the church to his home resurfaced.
While the work done for the charity sector in the Mid-West is hugely impressive, the first thing that many people bring up about JP McManus is his tax exile status.
At an event in UL in 2011 he refuted those that called him an exile. āIf I was somebody who set up a business abroad and it didnāt go so well, Iād be considered an emigrant. If it goes well, Iām considered an exile,ā Mr McManus commented. āI didnāt leave this country for tax purposes. I left this country because I wanted to set up a business abroadā.
āMy position, as I see it, is I paid my taxes before I left the country, in full. I didnāt leave the country in order to avoid paying a tax or to avoid paying a future tax that was about to come down the line.ā In 2020, Revenue released figures that showed that 6,200 tax returns were filed in 2017 by non-resident taxpayers holding an Irish domicile.
It also said that fewer than 10 people paid the self-assessed domicile levy in 2020. The ā¬200,000 fee was introduced by Brian Lenihan during the economic collapse in 2010 and was aimed at those who pay less than ā¬200,000 in Irish income tax but have Irish assets with more than ā¬5million or annual international income of more than ā¬1million. JP McManus has paid the levy.
Ballycotton
JP McManus isnāt the only millionaire investing in local communities. In Cork, Ballycotton has felt the benefit of the return of Pearse Flynn to his home place.
The multi-millionaire businessman is based in Scotland for most of the year but has built a stunning glass-fronted home overlooking the lighthouse in the town he grew up in.
From a fishing family, Flynn decided as a young man that life on the sea wasnāt for him and left to start his business journey. He began his career in the tech sector and ended up on the board of Compaq in the US before moving to Newbridge Networks and Alcatel.
His own businesses now include Creditfix and sustainable energy firm Green Rebel which employs more than 100 people and is headquartered at Penrose Dock in Cork City.
In between all that he has been taking a big interest in the regeneration of Ballycotton. He bought the townās former Protestant Church, St Colmanās, and transformed it into a multidisciplinary venue called Sea Church. It is the location for the RTĆ music series, The Ballycotton Sessions presented by Louise Duffy.
Flynn also owns Cush, the restaurant tipped for greatness in the town. Serving local seafood with a kitchen headed up by Dan Guerin, the restaurant was awarded a prestigious Bib Gourmand this year, and it was one of just three Irish restaurants to receive the honour. Dan Guerin described it as an āachievement for the villageā.
Flynn, whose Twitter handle @cottener shows his loyalties, is not stopping at venues and restaurants. As Ballycotton grows in popularity as a holiday spot, he saw the difficulty that people had in buying homes locally. He has said he is working on a plan to build up to 60 houses that would be placed in a trust so that they would be for local residents and canāt be used as investment properties or holiday lets. Itās a bold move but one that would be more than welcomed by locals.
Cobh
In Cobh, Northern Ireland natives Garry and Ann Wilson have adopted the town as their own after years of living in the UK.
Garry Wilson is the managing partner in a UK private equity firm and the couple decided to buy Belvelly Castle in Cork Harbour on a whim in 2016. Garry had passed the castle many times during golf trips to Fota Island and when Ann spotted that it was for sale the couple went to take a look.
It was crumbling and had not been lived in for 400 years, yet there was an instant connection and soon Garry and Ann were the proud owners of a ruin. The restoration project featured on RTĆs The Great House Revival where producers said it was the biggest challenge in the history of the programme.
Now a prominent landmark in the town and a very unusual home, the Wilsons light up the castleās exterior in spectacular colours at different times of the year; itās really Christmas in Cobh when the light show goes on at Belvelly.
The Wilsonsā investment in the locality hasnāt stopped with their home.
Gaia, a stunning recreation of the earth, rotated over the heads of visitors to St Colmanās Cathedral for two weeks in June. The spectacular installation was brought to Cobh by the Wilsons as part of the Cork Midsummer Festival. Tens of thousands made the trip to St Colmanās to see the seven-metre-wide work of art and opened up the town as a cultural hub for the duration of the exhibit.
Garry and Ann are working with local groups on other projects in Cobh but havenāt announced details yet. If a three-year restoration of an ancient castle and a world-renowned exhibition are the starting point, who knows what could follow.
Abbeyleix
Stripe co-founder John Collison is another man working on a renovation. Last year he bought the very impressive Abbeyleix House and grounds in Co. Laois. It had been advertised internationally for ā¬20 million. It is thought he paid ā¬11.5 million for it.
The 27,000 square foot property dates from 1773 and was the continuous home of the de Vesci family until it was sold in the 1990s. Sitting on 1,000 acres, the house was extensively renovated in 1996 but a tech genius like Collison may want to undertake further works to bring it into the 21st century.
There had been speculation that the younger of the Stripe brothers had bought the property to use in his business ventures but a source close to him assured locals that he planned to use it as a home. That same source said that it was likely that neighbours would see John in the local pub and in shops nearby.
Then, in further good news for the town, Patrick and John bought Millbrook House early this year. The Victorian house was for sale for just ā¬400,000 and was bought by Jersey-based company, Comhlacht na Feirme. Local councillors have confirmed that the brothers were the buyers.
Millbrook House is located on an estate road that leads to Abbeyleix House and was once part of the estate. It had been bought by compulsory purchase order by Laois County Council in May 2020 in the hope that a private buyer would come in and sensitively restore it. It is thought that it will take around ā¬2 million and three years to fully return it to the impressive house it once was.
A family fun day was hosted on the grounds of Abbeyleix House last month with all funds raised supporting local charities, including My Lovely Horse Rescue, St. Lazerians St. Vincent De Paul Conference, Abbeyleix and District Lions Club.
Stradbally
Family fun days are familiar to the locals in Stradbally, Co. Waterford too. Hong Kong-based multimillionaire business tycoon Jim Thompson was hoping to find his Irish roots on a visit to the country in 1996.
He didnāt have much luck, but he did spot a beautiful house in Waterford that caught his eye. In 2012, a genealogist not only confirmed Thompsonās family history but found that he was actually from Waterford and sent him on the brochure for a Georgian manor for sale nearby.
That property turned out to be Woodhouse, the very place that he had seen 16 years before. Later that year he returned to Ireland with his son and ended up buying Woodhouse for ā¬6.5million. The house hadnāt been lived in for 30 years and it took two years and ā¬4million to bring it back to its former glory.
Jim and his wife Sally were well known for their philanthropic work in Asia and have been big supporters of the local community ever since taking up part-time residence. They have hosted summer lecture series, family fun days and have raised funds for the local Tidy Towns and Waterford Hospice.
In the West
In Galway, businessman John Concannon from Tuam appeared on an episode of the Secret Millionaire. A chance encounter with a taxi driver in Dublin whose son had died by suicide resulted in him working tirelessly to open a Pieta House in his hometown. The Community Foundation awarded him Philanthropist of the Year in 2012. He is still involved in the organisation and with other charities locally.
Also in Galway, two brothers who started their working life as plasterers but became property moguls in the UK are generous with their time and money when it comes to their home county. Brian and Luke Comer are originally from Glenamaddy, regularly feature on rich lists and are worth an estimated ā¬906 million.
Their Comer International Group property empire covers the UK, Ireland, Greece and Germany.
Last year, they teamed up with childrenās charity Variety to launch a scheme that saw an iPad sent to every national school in the county of Galway. Though they live in Monaco for tax purposes the brothers regularly make donations to charities and services in Glenamaddy like Ability Westās Dochas Day Service.
They also provide insurance for the Irish Jockeys Association and earlier this year took over 85% of the ownership of Galway United, a club they have sponsored since 2013.
Wealth tax could yield up to ā¬5bn per year for exchequer
The increase in the number of millionaires and billionaires in Ireland and calls for greater transparency when it comes to tax exile status has seen groups like Oxfam Ireland renew their calls for a wealth tax here.
Simon Murtagh, Oxfam Irelandās Senior Policy and Research Coordinator, said: āOne of the great benefits of a wealth tax is that it acts as a transparent reporting law on all of the wealth of a country and of its citizens, creating an opportunity for the very rich to declare their wealth, pay a small rate of tax above a very high threshold and yet contribute greatly to a fairer society.
"This is about building new, greener and more effective social contracts to face spiralling levels of inequality, the related global cost-of-living crisis and the climate emergency. As Oxfam Irelandās research this year indicated, an Irish wealth tax could yield between ā¬4 billion and ā¬5 billion per year at low rates of interest (1.5% and 2%) above net-wealth thresholds of US$5 million and US$50 million respectively.
"It is also important to note that our wealth tax proposal to the Commission on Taxation and Welfare is based on citizenship and not domicile status, so that high net-wealth Irish citizens would be liable to pay the tax no matter where they are officially based.ā
From sports teams to playgrounds and award-winning restaurants to school equipment, local millionaires are filling a funding void for a lot of Irish towns. With the number of Irish millionaires and billionaires on the rise each year, is this direct investment better than a wealth tax? Government policy appears to have settled on this being the case - and some small towns and villages would agree.
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Most of the anecdotes are really good but thatās ridiculous 
How is that legal?
Be interesting to see what the Stripe boys do in Abbeyleix, the hands are out up there already
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Raze it to the ground and start again
Thatās a fine looking town Iād have said. Big potential.Some lovely old buildings.
It definitely happened.
An aunt of mine was at that wedding and all the guests got some sort of Gold Pen as a souvenir for coming.
He removed John Magnier for being rude to staff once as well apparently. Refused to stop smoking.
Youāve never been there obviously
Never there , but that Laois crowd ā¦
Youāre some chap
Yourman flynn paid for cloyne gaas new hurling wall rather than get a tackie sign made up he paid for a mural of rory gallagher to be painted on it. Look it up recently completed. Fine bot of art
That bacon and eggs story was told to every Tom dick and Harry it seems
The horsey set love twee
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JP needs to get the finger out and fund the holiday sesh for these young men.