Dispute between tea dance couple over missing €40k

A couple, who met at a tea dance in Jurys Hotel almost 30 years ago, are now embroiled in a legal dispute over a missing €40,000 from a joint post office account they shared, a court has heard.

Judge Jacaqueline Linnane yesterday ordered 88-year-old Mary Cunningham to outline in an affidavit to the Circuit Civil Court “full and specific details” of withdrawals she made from the account she shared with John Condron.

Judge Linnane said Ms Cunningham, of Brookwood Rise, Artane, Dublin, and Mr Condron, of Cormac St, Tullamore, Co Offaly, “were unrelated and strangers in blood”. They had met at an afternoon tea dance in Jurys Hotel and, the court had been told, the couple had been involved in “a very long-term relationship”.

The court heard that during their friendship Ms Cunningham had been made a joint holder in an account with Mr Condron in which there were deposits of €86,470 in Kilbeggan Post Office, Co Westmeath.

Barrister Donogh Hardiman, counsel for two family attorneys for Mr Condron, told the court Ms Cunningham had made withdrawals of just over €40,000 from the account and placed them in a joint account with her son Francis Cunningham.

He said legal proceedings, which had been initiated in the High Court by attorneys for Mr Condron, currently in care, had now been remitted to the circuit civil court. His attorneys were seeking to trace the missing monies. Mr Hardiman said his clients were, at a minimum, looking for an indication of Ms Cunningham’s assets. An Post had provided an undertaking that it would abide by any order of the court.

Judge Linnane said Ms Cunningham had transferred “within a very short space of time” money from the joint account with Mr Condron into a joint account with herself and her son, Francis, who had since died suddenly.

“I want Ms Cunningham to provide the court with an affidavit within two weeks specifically setting out in detail how and when the withdrawals were made, where they went, and where they are now,” Judge Linnane said.

The court was told a full defence would be lodged in the proceedings on behalf of Ms Cunningham.