THE COMMERCIAL COURT is to decide on Monday whether there are grounds for property developer Paddy McKillen to appeal its dismissal of his appeal against the transfer of his loans to the National Asset Management Agency.

The court had ruled on Monday that McKillen could not resist the transfer of the loans to NAMA, ruling that he had no right to resist NAMA’s moves to acquire €297m in loans from Bank of Ireland.

The three-judge panel – led by High Court president Nicholas Kearns – struck down all five aspects of his challenge, including his complaint that the decision to buy his loans was taken before NAMA was formally established, and his insistence that his loans were not ‘impaired’ because they had been performing adequately and he had been making his repayments.

McKillen, who is understood to owe about €2bn in total to various banks, had further argued that the transfer of his loans would result in a damage to his reputation as a businessman.

This morning his representatives sought leave to appeal the case, and the court will now decide on Monday whether there are issues that merit a challenge of its ruling to the Supreme Court.

McKillen is automatically entitled to appeal the case anyway, as it involves a question of whether the establishment of NAMA was valid under the Constitution, but needs the court’s approval to appeal any other point.

McKillen is therefore expected to lodge an appeal immediately after that decision made on Monday.