A 77-year-old farmer in Wexford has secured a 70-day legal stay on the sale of his farm by receiver Mazars, says his son.

The farm was due to be sold by Wilson Auctioneers at 2pm on Wednesday but at around 12pm, farmer Paddy Kinsella was informed by his legal representatives that a stay had been secured to delay the sale of the 82ac by 70 days.

The listing has been removed from Wilson Auctioneers' website and Daft.ie.

The farm, at Corlican, Killurin, Co Wexford was advertised for sale, without the Kinsella family’s knowledge, according to Paddy’s son Paul.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Paul said his father was informed by friends last month that his lands were up for public auction.

Paddy Kinsella is a former chair of Wexford and South Leinster IFA.

Debt

Paul Kinsella said that Paddy understands that his lands will have to be sold in order to repay his debt but that he wants this to be done on agreed terms.

Paul says his father took out a loan with Ulster Bank in 2007 to purchase a retail premise/ service station in Wexford. The subsequent downturn that followed “made trading very difficult”, according to Paul, who said his “father had issues paying the loan”.

He said Ulster Bank told his father that the loan was sold to Promontoria (Aran) Ltd and that the repayment negotiations had to start from the beginning with this new owner of the loan.

According to Paul, his father and brother held several meetings “over the years” to rearrange the loan in order to “keep things afloat”.

However, he said that “around 2015”, Promontoria (Aran) Ltd appointed a receiver named Mazars to recoup the loan.

Agent appointed

Paul Kinsella said Mazars then appointed an agent to “deal with” his father and that this company was called “Link Asset Services”.

He claims that his father Paddy Kinsella agreed to hand over the deeds of the purchased retail premise/ service station to Link ASI Ltd against his debt and that in March 2021, the deeds of his brother’s family home were also handed over to Linked ASI Ltd.

He said a deal was also agreed “to sell the farming land in order to finalise the entire loan as paid”.

Paul said the “land was agreed in principle to a local farm who secured a loan to buy it – so everything was complete” and that in July 2021 a correspondence from Link ASI Ltd to the Kinsellas’ solicitors “confirmed in good faith that a deal was accepted”.

However, he claims that this deal has been reneged on and that in October 2021, the point of contact from Link ASI Ltd corresponded with the Kinsellas’ solicitor as part of BSM Global.

Paul said the family are unsure if Link ASI Ltd was sold to this new company or if their name was changed. He said the correspondence placed legal deadlines and fees on the Kinsellas to “close the deal with the new buyer” but that these were “impossible to meet”.

Paul says that in February 2022, the Kinsellas lodged a complaint to the financial ombudsman about the matter but that they are “still awaiting word”.

Seeking engagement

After being informed last month by neighbours and friends that Paddy Kinsella’s farmland was advertised for public auction, his son Paul Kinsella said his family “tried numerous times to engage with BSM [Global] but they never replied to any of our correspondence via our solicitors”.

After weeks of calling on neighbours and other farmers not to bid on the land in this auction, the Kinsellas have now secured a stay, according to Paul.

On the engagement the Kinsellas are now seeking with the receiver Mazars and their agent, Paul said: “We just want to sit down with them and agree a deal on paper. On paper, something which is clear, crystal clear and binding. We don’t know what they’re doing. They could do anything.”

Paul Kinsella said recent events “have taken the life out of” his father and that the elderly man “has gone depressed”.

“You cannot live. We’re not trying to be favoured in any way. We just want a fair deal,” he said.