O'Donnell son urges court to stop bank repossessing luxury home

Mon, 02 Mar, 2015 - 16:04

Blake O'Donnell, the son of Dublin solicitor Brian O'Donnell, is today urging the High Court to stop a receiver from repossessing their luxury home.

Under a Supreme Court order, the family was due to be out of their house on the Vico Road in Killiney, which was once valued at €30m, by midday.

The solicitor was understood to have invited members of the anti-repossession group The New Land League to his house on the Vico Road. Blake O'Donnell later said that he does not know how the protesters came to be there.

5pm Update: Mr Justice Brian McGovern will rule on the O'Donnell's application tomorrow, but first he wants an update of events out in Killiney.

Bank of Ireland obtained judgment for over €70m in 2011 because the O'Donnell parents had defaulted on various liabilities.

The scene at the house of Brian O'Donnell in Killiney which was due to be repossessed today. @IrelandLive pic.twitter.com/d96TtjcHGr
— Kevin Purcell (@KevinPurcell_) March 2, 2015

Referring to the family's latest legal bid as “deluded”, lawyers for the bank say that they understand that a “group of protesters from the so-called Land League has erected a barricade”.

Barrister Cian Ferriter says it appears that the receiver is going to meet resistance.

The New Land League has said that the Brian O'Donnell repossession case represents all that is wrong with the Irish justice system.

“All repossessions and all evictions from family homes are a question, certainly, of fairness and morality,” said spokesperson John Martin.

“We don’t think that simply because you live in Killiney or Cabra or Finglas or Tallaght that somebody should make the moral judgement as to why you’re not allowed to stay in your home.”