www.iva.co.uk

Westlife’s Shane Filan has been declared bankrupt with debts of £18million following collapse of his property empire.

He had, apparantly, borrowed a large sum of money from the Bank of Ireland to build a 90 home estate, but only managed to build 50 and had to sell many of them at less than the cost to build.

...... and I thought my £25,000 IVA was the depths of despair.

I suppose it just goes to show, the more money to have the bigger the plans are to build that money faster and bigger and the bigger problems it can lead to when it all goes wrong.

I read he moved to England last year as Bankruptcy only lasts a year here rather than ten years in Ireland. He has asked for his earnings from the current tour not to be included in his assets, don't know how that works?

Yep - puts it all into perspective if a major 'celebrity' has to go bankrupt.

Hope he has built up a contingency fund to help him! Can't see him in Lidl's or Aldi though.

So does that mean after a year he is free to move back to Ireland debt free?

John Carew, the footballer, played for Villa I think, is currently still listed as being bankrupt.

Regards.

Just goes to show we're all human and can happen to any of us. x

shame about that but £18 million thats going to hurt the bank of ireland a little,im sure it all went wrong with the house prices taking a big slump in ireland,thats a chance he took,still looking for the answer off,can he move back to ireland after a year by having his bankruptcy in england

Kerry Katona is still listed as being bankrupt even though she claimed in a magazine article some months ago that she had her discharge certificate and had framed it!!!!

Many moons ago when I use to live in Ireland, I did a stint working on a building site (before moving over here) for a couple of weeks. The building site was Shane Filans and the houses been built were enormous!

Bankruptcy laws in Ireland are still considered draconian compared to the UK - hence why many come over to do it. However, depending on the debts and where they were sourced, declaring yourself bankrupt in the UK when the centre of your interests are in Ireland (Republic) could be challenged by the courts in Ireland as was the case of Seam Quinn when he declared himself bankrupt in the UK though his main interests were in the republic.

Certainly complex but what I would like to know is why he wants the current tour earnings excluded?

Thanks

I see his address is withheld on the register. Kerry Katona has an address listed (and yes, she is still on as of today!)

She doesn't live there anymore though - she lives down south somewhere.

My address is wrong the register. I have moved but nobody has updated it! - even so, an address was listed for her whereas it is withheld for Shane.

When I moved while I was BR the register was updated within a couple of days of me advising the OR.

I think the whole register should be abolished should be available on a need to know basis only. Whether famous or not it's an invasion of privacy.

totally agree Lesley, it's the one aspect of being insolvent that I really find hard to stomach