Updated at 11.42am
BRIAN O’DONNELL HAS been allowed stay in the disputed Gorse Hill property until next Thursday when his appeal against yesterday’s judgement is heard.
O’Donnell and his wife Mary Patricia had been given until 5pm today to leave the property after Bank of Ireland were granted a trespass injunction against their presence there.
The solicitor argued in court today that he has 22 grounds to appeal against that decision.
The three judge appeal court today granted a further stay on the injunction until the couple’s appeal is heard next Thursday at 2pm.
Again representing himself, O’Donnell claims that the proceedings against him and his wife have been “railroaded through the courts”.
Cian Ferriter SC for Bank of Ireland had opposed their continued presence there, arguing that the O’Donnells leaving the property would not prejudice their appeal.
He said the bank wished to take possession of the property until that appeal for security reasons.
He added that loan agreements the couple made meant that, “they unequivocally signed up to an agreement that they would vacate they property in the event that the bank exercised its security.”
The bank has previously argued in court that the couple owe them approximately €70 million.
Ferriter also argued that the status quo before the repossession order was made by the bank was that the couple lived in the UK, not the Killiney property.
Jerry Beades of the New Land League was sitting beside Brian O’Donnell during the court proceedings and Ferriter questioned the role of the group numberous times.
Beades then spoke, asking Justice Sean Ryan could he address the court. The Judge refused saying that, ‘I take a fairly liberal approach as to who can sit beside who….but there is a limit’.
“Council is entitled to make his argument without interruption,” he added.
The three judge court is granted extension of the stay on the injunction temporarily allow the O’Donnells remain in the property.
O’Donnell made no comment as he was leaving court
He has been at the centre of a long-running battle for the right to stay in the Gorse Hill mansion in Killiney, south Dublin.
The family came to widespread attention last week when it was reported that O’Donnell had “barricaded” himself into the house.
In court last Thursday, Brian O’Donnell denied that he barricaded himself into the house, claiming that cars blocking the gate to Gorse Hill were there to prevent members of the media and others from entering.
Jerry Beades of the New Land League group, which has been supporting the O’Donnells, told TheJournal.ie he was “confident that common sense should prevail”.
“The eviction notice was off the wall. To give a family a day and a half is completely unconstitutional,” he insisted.
He said it was “unheard of, what has happened in this case” and that there was “huge disquiet” developing over the case.
‘In court last week, O’Donnell said “I do not know how much money I actually owe and nor does my wife”.
This is because, he said, he was not provided with information he requested from the receivers. He also said that he and his wife had repaid €700 million to banks worldwide and that Bank of Ireland had been pursuing them for five years.
- With reporting from Rónán Duffy
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