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A prominent Brisbane real estate agent has lost his licence after pleading guilty to assaulting a man more than a decade ago in his home country of Ireland.
McGrath Bulimba principal Tony O’Doherty received a two-year sentence, fully suspended, in December 2025 after admitting to a one-punch assault on a man outside an Irish nightclub.
The victim suffered a fractured skull and a bleed to his brain in the assault, which O’Doherty said occurred in 2013 when he was 23 years old.
He said he had lodged an appeal against the Office of Fair Trading’s decision to cancel his real estate licence.
Under the Property Occupations Act 2014, a person is considered unsuitable to hold a real estate licence if they were convicted within the previous five years, regardless of when the conduct occurred.
“I take full responsibility for what happened and deeply regret it,” McGrath said in an email to his real estate database.
“At the same time, I believe the circumstances should be considered in their full context, including the time that has passed and the person I have been since.
“I understand this may raise questions, which is why I wanted to provide a direct update rather than allow rumours to gain momentum.”
O’Doherty said he had received a lot of support from past clients and the industry, but he claimed there had been an “awful lot of pressure” from his competitors to the Office of Fair Trading.
“I’m very grateful that people see this as what it is,” O’Doherty told this masthead.
“This occurred before I ever sold my first house.
“My credibility and ability to sell real estate has never been up for debate, it’s a technicality in the law that has seen me in this position.”
O’Doherty said it “was by no means a brutal attack”, and he had originally planned to pursue a self-defence case.
The Limerick Post reported that O’Doherty was at the Club Mission nightclub in Newcastle West when the victim, James Fitzgerald, threw a glass over his shoulder, which smashed near O’Doherty, and splashed a drink on him.
Fitzgerald, who was severely drunk at the time, was removed from the nightclub by security.
O’Doherty ran after Fitzgerald and confronted him, hitting him in the jaw. He was sent backwards and banged his head into a door, according to the Limerick Post.
During O’Doherty’s trial, Fitzgerald told the court in a victim impact statement, “I wasn’t the same person after – the pain never really went away”, the Limerick Post reported.
After moving to Australia, O’Doherty sold his first property in 2016 and quickly became one of Brisbane’s high-flyers. He sold more than 80 properties as lead agent, at a median price of $2.16 million.
Last year, he made the news as he fought a rejected demolition application for a riverfront home in Bulimba that he had just bought for $6 million.
He sold his home, “Athenry” at 95 Solar Street in Coorparoo, for $4.7 million last year. He also sold former Lions captain Lachie Neale’s home in Seven Hills after the footballer split with his wife.
O’Doherty’s real estate licence case will be heard in Brisbane on September 16.
McGrath said the team at their Bulimba office remained available to assist clients.
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