Johnny Ronan’s Cherrywood deal turns sour

Johnny Ronan is fighting on two fronts to keep his interest alive in a south Dublin property scheme where the developer plans to build an office block and more than 1,100 apartments.

DLR Properties (DLRP), owned by Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown county council, sought damages from a Ronan Group company over what it claimed was its “failure to comply” with a development agreement involving a 13.3-acre site in Cherrywood, south Dublin. DLRP said the development agreement was terminated in September last year.

Both parties agreed to private arbitration last week, with former chief justice Frank Clarke as arbitrator. However, Ronan Group has asked that defamation proceedings initiated by DLRP against it get a full hearing. In an affidavit, Conor Dalton, chief executive of DLRP, said “of urgent