The Stanley family wealth stems from Shannon Homes, founded by the previous generation of the family in 1970 and which was heavily involved in the Dublin housing market in the 1990s and 2000s. Michael Stanley became CEO of Stanley Holdings when it was demerged from Shannon in 2005. Its involvement in the Belmayne development in north Dublin saw some of its loans land in Nama but in 2014, newly refinanced, the Stanley brothers and business partner McIntosh returned to building with Cairn becoming the first housebuilder to list since the 90s.

Under a founder share scheme, the trio received ordinary shares worth €1.58 per share in August 2017, with McIntosh getting the most.

But with huge question marks hanging over the overall house building sector, the stock market has not been good to Ireland's listed builders in the meantime, and by the beginning of 2019 the share price of Cairn had fallen by close to 25pc. The founders have since sold down some of their shares but still own about 10pc of the company, according to Bloomberg data.