O’Donnells get three-week stay

Brian and Mary Patricia O’Donnell can remain in the former family home until April 15 after a court yesterday said it would not rule on their latest legal challenge until that date.

Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan, presiding at the three-judge Court of Appeal, said the court would not after all be in a position to give its decision before the end of this week, as there were a number of “serious issues” to be considered.

Last week, she said it had been hoped to give the decision before the courts rise for the Easter vacation.

She said that, as the court would now give its judgment on April 15, it was extending until that date a stay already granted to Mr and Dr O’Donnell halting a receiver taking over the house, Gorse Hill, Vico Rd, Killiney.

The case was back in court to hear submissions from Bank of Ireland, which appointed the receiver in pursuit of a €71.5m debt against the O’Donnells, and from Mr O’Donnell, who is representing himself and his wife.

Mr O’Donnell had said the receiver was not validly appointed and a seal on documentation relating to that appointment was not valid.

Cian Ferriter, for the bank, said that, as recently as last Thursday, in a judgment on a separate case, the Supreme Court had found “no merit or substance in these technical points”.