Updated at 4.45pm
BRIAN O’DONNELL HAS lost his appeal to stay at Gorse Hill in Killiney.
The Court of Appeal has refused O’Donnell’s application against a High Court ruling that granted a trespass order to Bank of Ireland requiring him and his wife to leave their home.
Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan said, “The matter demonstrates the difficult situation families can find themselves in when they give security over their home in relation to borrowings.”
However she also pointed out that Brian O’Donnell and his wife have been living in England since 2011, stating that Gorse Hill is ‘no longer the family home’ and that they only returned to prevent receivers taking possession of the house.
O’Donnell said he wants to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court and requested a stay of two weeks to make this appeal.
Senior Counsel for Bank of Ireland Cian Ferriter said he should not be allowed to have another stay stating, “They’ve already had two bites at the cherry.”
However, the court granted the O’Donnells a two week stay until noon on April 29.
Argument
The court had granted the injunction to Bank of Ireland as O’Donnell allegedly owes it over €70 million.
Judgement on the appeal case was due to be announced last month but was extended for three weeks until this morning after O’Donnell, who represented himself in court, claimed the appointment of a receiver by the bank was invalid.
Speaking in court last month O’Donnell said, “If the deed is not properly executed…you can’t rectify something that doesn’t exist.”
O’Donnell also argued that he and his wife had a contractual right of residence at Gorse Hill based on an agreement with Vico Ltd.
But the court heard today that Vico Limited’s possession of the house ended on March 2 and that the O’Donnells right of residence did not extend past that.
It was also stated that the O’Donnells had agreed to give full vacant possession of Gorse Hill in a settlement agreement with the bank in March 2011.
The couple have remained at Gorse Hill for the duration of the appeal which began last month.
The three judges hearing the case were Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan, Ms Justice Mary Irvine and Mr Justice Michael Peart.
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