Last December, he told a meeting of creditors how he gave Ms Killilea Dunne €100m in 2005 in return for her “love and affection”.

He also got children, a happy marriage and his wife washed “the odd shirt” he told the US bankruptcy proceedings in Connecticut.

The agreement was drawn up on a trip to Thailand in 2005 with Mr Dunne saying he had struck a deal worth one-fifth of his assets at the time, estimated to be €500m.