“Money doesn’t mean much to me,” Coolmore boss John Magnier told the High Court on day two of the court proceedings he instigated to enforce a multi-million euro deal for the 751ac Barne Estate.

Magnier was grilled on the night he shook hands on the alleged deal to buy the trophy property in south Tipperary.

Martin Hayden SC - counsel for the defendants Richard Thomson-Moore, Barne Estate Ltd and associated Jersey companies - probed differences in Magnier’s recollection of the seating arrangements at Coolmore House and what exactly he bid an initial €15m for on the night.

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In what is a key part of the legal case, John Magnier alleged that he offered €15m for Barne, outlining: “I offered €15m for the land or the company. It was assumed, we had the choice, definitely for the land or the company. That was available all the way through.”

He said he offered Richard Thomson-Moore and his wife, who were at Coolmore House, “€15m for the deal, whether it was the company or the farm”.

“I intimated that I preferred the land, but we were keeping the option of the company,” Magnier told the court.

He said that Coolmore staff had tried to get details of the [Barne Estate] company several times, but were unsuccessful.

He said the deal was agreed on the night, for either the land or the company, “subject to it being in order”, “subject to the experts and assuming it would be in order”, referring to members of his own staff on whom he relies for legal expertise.

In previous court filings, the Magniers claimed that they were given the option to buy either the land at Barne or the shares in the company which owns the land, Barne Estate Ltd.

Meaning

Questioned by Hayden repeatedly on whether he understood the meaning and effect of the term “subject to contract, contract denied”, Magnier said he didn’t “understand it like you do, or like I should”.

The Thomson-Moore and Barne Estate arguments are that any agreement on the sale was subject to a further contract and also that Richard Thomson-Moore did not have the authority to conclude a deal on the estate on the night of 22 August 2023.

In a two-hour-long session in the witness box, John Magnier agreed that he had been very successful in business and accumulated substantial agricultural holdings.

However, he dismissed reports in the print media, including the Irish Farmers Journal and the Business Post, and outlined in court, that he owned tens of thousands of acres as “fabrication and untrue”.

The Irish Farmers Journal has previously documented over 10,000ac of land in Co Tipperary alone owned or controlled by the Magniers, Coolmore and associated people and companies, using land registry documents.

When asked the extent of the land he owns, he told the court: “I’m not sure how much land I have.”

“I have five children, 15 grandchildren, a lot of employees, some of them in partnership that end up starting their own businesses.”

The case before Mr Justice Max Barrett continues on Wednesday.