Lynch: Property trusts 'not viable option' for desperate people

Junior justice minister Kathleen Lynch is warning people that they can't save their homes from being repossessed by putting them into trusts.

Kathleen Lynch's warning comes after a man was arrested over operating such a property trust into which thousands of properties were signed, in the belief that it could protect them from legal proceedings.

The issue was discussed in the Dáil today after being raised by Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins.

"I don't think we can ever enact laws that will protect people who are desperate from making decisions for themselves, and clearly that's what's happening," Minister Lynch told the Dáil.

"A debate like today's… will alert people that (such trusts are) not a viable option."

The mysterious Rodolphus Allen Trust was headed by Kilkenny landscape gardener Charlie Allen, who was arrested on Monday after being sought by Gardaí for some time.

Thousands of debtors had signed over €2bn worth of assets into the trust in the belief that it offered them protection from legal proceedings.

Trustees paid at least €300-per-folio to have thousands of commercial, agricultural and residential properties signed into the trust, which was connected to the discredited Freemen on the Land ideology.

Some groups claim that moving properties into a trust means they cannot be repossessed if someone has troubled repaying their mortgage.

Mr Allen was arrested on foot of a bench warrant in Cork on Monday after his whereabouts where discovered by an Irish Examiner reporter.

He was but has since been released, having pledged not to interfere with a stud farm in Kildare.

The case will be heard again in January.