A judge in Ireland ordered a commercial property developer to repay €16.5m (US $23.6m) in loans given to him for his firm after he could not provide an adequate reason as to why he didn’t repay. According to a report in The Irish Times, Dermot O’Rourke of Naas, a town of 16,000 located 18 miles west of Dublin, had no arguable defense to the summary judgment application brought against him by Bank of Scotland – Ireland (BoSI). The bank originated the loans to O’Rourke in July 2007 and February 2008, including a €15m facility. O’Rourke was to have repaid the loans in full by August 27, 2009. The commercial court judge refused an application by O’Rourke’s lawyers to postpone the order pending a Supreme Court appeal. Earlier this month, O’Rourke sued three business associates after he claims he agreed to provide Thomas Considine, Patrick Sweeney and Gerard Prendergast with a €10m loan for a land purchase deal. According to the Irish Independent, O’Rourke claims the loan was to be repaid by August 9, 2009. O’Rourke claims the defendants now owe him €21.9m in unpaid principal and interest. Write to Austin Kilgore.