Solicitor barricades himself in Killiney home to stop repossession
The house, Gorse Hill, at Vico Rd, was recently vacated by three of the children of Brian and Mary Pat O’Donnell in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling dismissing a challenge to repossession on foot of a €71.5m judgment obtained against them by Bank of Ireland.
The judgment related to liabilities to the bank over which there were a number of securities including the Killiney house.
Mr Justice Brian McGovern said he wants affidavit evidence todayfrom receiver Tom Kavanagh outlining what has been happening there since 12pm yesterday when the receiver was due to take possession.
The court heard that members of an anti-repossession group called the Land League had joined Mr O’Donnell to oppose any attempt to take over the house.
The claims came during an application for an injunction by Mr O’Donnell’s son, Blake, who is also a solicitor, seeking to stop the eviction.
Mr O’Donnell told the court he and his three siblings, Blaise, Alexandra, and Bruce, along with a company called Vico Ltd, sought the injunction claiming High Court and Supreme Court decisions in favour of the bank had been obtained on the basis of lies presented to the court by the bank.
Mr O’Donnell said his parents were in occupation of the house by virtue of a right of residency granted to them previously by him and his siblings.
As far as he was aware, when he left the house earlier yesterday, a group of people had turned up to support his father in a peaceful protest.
Earlier, Cian Ferriter SC, for the bank, said Mr O’Donnell Jr was engaging in a gross abuse of process with complete disregard for the integrity of the court system which had fully dealt with the same claims he was now making and which had been completely rejected.
Although Brian and Mary Pat O’Donnell had been insisting up until last January that they lived in Kent in England, they were now saying they were living in Gorse Hill and were entitled to two years’ notice from their children before they could be evicted, counsel said.
Around the same time, the children had written to the receiver saying they had vacated the property, Mr Ferriter said.
The judge remarked that it was all “a bit like Lanigan’s Ball”.
Rossa Fanning BL, for the receiver, said if the court refuses an injunction his client may seek attachment and committal orders against certain members of the O’Donnell family unless there are undertakings not to interfere with the receiver.
Mr Fanning said it was ironic that Brian O’Donnell was receiving support from a group calling itself the Land League when he was “ultimately a member of the landlord class”.
Mr Justice McGovern said he may not give a decision on the injunction application today but he first wanted evidence as to what had been taking place at the house.
In his injunction application, Blake O’Donnell said he was entitled to seek an injunction on the basis of previous case law providing for a stay on such decisions where there was allegations of fraud and where members of the bank’s staff had allegedly lied under oath.
One of the plaintiffs, Bank of Ireland Private Banking, had unlawfully presented itself to the court as being a bank when it was in fact a mortgage intermediary, he claimed.
Bank of Ireland Private Banking, throughout its relationship with the O’Donnells, had always indicated the monies were loaned by it and not as had been claimed throughout the case by the “governor and company of Bank of Ireland”.
The judgment obtained against his parents was obtained on the basis of a fraudulent settlement agreement, he said.
He was also seeking the injunction as the company, Vico Ltd, which the High and Supreme Courts had found had full legal and beneficial ownership of Gorse Hill, had not been previously involved in the case and it was now open to Vico to challenge the validity of the security on the house which was granted to the bank.
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