Yates urges against €1.6m order

The wife of former minister Ivan Yates is asking the High Court not to give a bank a summary judgment order against her for €1.6m.

The debt arises out of a guarantee Deirdre Yates gave on loans obtained from AIB to her husband for his Celtic Bookmakers business which went into liquidation in 2011.

Mr Yates, a radio broadcaster, was later declared bankrupt in the UK having lived for 16 months in Wales to qualify under its more relaxed bankruptcy laws.

AIB says as Ms Yates was a majority shareholder, director, and company secretary of the bookmaker, it was entitled to recover from her €1.6m arising out of the single guarantee she signed on her husband’s debt.

Ms Yates, a primary school teacher, claims that when she signed the guarantee she did not receive, and was not advised to receive, legal advice about the implications of doing so.

She was not aware that the family home in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, was at risk if there was default on the loans to her husband, she claims.

AIB wants the court to grant summary judgment because it says she has no defence to the claim.

Ms yates wants the matter to go to a full hearing so the court can assess all the facts surrounding the matter.

Mr Justice Seamus Noonan said that he will give his decision on Friday.

Andrew Fitzpatrick, for AIB, said Ms Yates’ claim she did not understand her liability arising out of what she signed did not stand up to scrutiny. At no stage in three separate affidavits she swore did she explain what understanding she actually had, he said.

Brian Conroy, for Ms Yates, who was in court with her husband, said the bank “did not take any proper steps to encourage her to take legal advice”.