The High Court has ordered Thomas Doran to pay Everyday Finance DAC €4,853,061.92 over two loans used to buy farmland at Irishtown, Mullingar, after dismissing his counterclaim against the lender and Allied Irish Banks plc (AIB).
In a judgment delivered electronically on 31 July 2025, Mr Justice Alexander Owens found that Doran had not proved that AIB deceived him, acted negligently or breached its contracts, or that he suffered loss as a result. The court also rejected his claim that AIB’s “Prime” commercial lending rate had been represented as equivalent to the European Central Bank rate.
Doran borrowed €926,500 in 2006 to buy 22.5 acres for €850,000, and €2.6 million in 2007 towards the purchase of a further 30 acres for €3 million. He alleged that AIB had promised to obtain valuations to help him assess whether the prices were fair, and that he relied on assurances that valuations existed. He also challenged the authenticity and quality of valuations held on the bank’s files.
The judge did not accept Doran’s account that he had asked for valuations to guide his purchase decisions or relied on them. He accepted evidence from AIB official Sharon Scanlon that Doran had not raised concerns about the prices or asked to see the valuations. The judge found that Doran had already committed to buy the second block before seeking a loan for it.
The judgment described the bank’s valuations as brief and uninformative and said they lacked analysis of comparable sales, planning and infrastructure. The judge had reservations about their reliability and who prepared them, but found the evidence did not establish that Scanlon had placed bogus valuations on file after the loans were drawn down or knew the valuations were inauthentic. He also found that Doran had not proved the land was worth less than he paid or otherwise established compensable loss.
The court held that the facility letters’ valuation conditions did not require AIB to provide Doran with advice or valuations for his benefit. After funds had been advanced, any breach of a contractual promise would support a claim for damages, the judgment said; it would not remove the repayment obligation. The judge dismissed Doran’s counterclaim and found no defence to recovery of the loans.
The judgment awarded Everyday €4,853,061.92, comprising the balances and interest calculated to different dates for the two loans. It found that AIB had absolutely assigned the debts to Everyday and that written notice had been given to Doran. The judge’s views on costs and whether to stay the debt judgment pending appeal were provisional. If Doran objected, those matters were to be listed for determination at the start of the next court term.