Blake O'Donnell cut a lonely figure, sitting alone on the plaintiff's side of the senior counsels' bench, with just a jotter for company and three Lever Arch files labelled Arthur Cox.
A young solicitor so untutored in the ways of court that he had to be directed several times by the judge to rise when he wished to address him.
Meanwhile, his father, Brian, a man once so immersed in the law that he made partner in the venerable corporate law firm of William Fry, was out in Killiney, barricading himself into an 835sq m (9,000sq ft) property, behind a blockade comprising a few modest cars owned by gentlemen from the New Land League.
Since Blake and his siblings had already ceded any legal interest in the mansion, he was in the awkward position of distancing himself legally from the current occupiers of the property, who happened to be his father and mother. Or as Cian Ferriter, SC for the bank, saw it, "children seeking to put some wholly artificial separation between themselves and their parents".
“I spoke briefly to my father last night. He said he had invited in some of his friends, ” said Blake, when asked for an update on the Killiney stand-off by Mr Justice McGovern. “So they’re friends of his,” commented the judge in a mildly questioning tone.
Scribbled
As the judge dismissed every element of the siblings’ claims, demolishing the entire family’s claim to the house in the process, the uneasy young man in the barristers’ bench massaged his knuckles, pressed his hands to his face, and scribbled the odd sentence in his jotter, which may or may not have included the line that his parents were now trespassers on bank property.
At this point, Ferriter, keen to claim the property for his client, rose and suggested that Blake go out and contact his parents “immediately”.
“That is entirely inappropriate . . . a bit ridiculous,” replied Blake in non-courtly language, one hand in pocket. At least he was standing up.
If Ferriter wanted to communicate with his parents, then he should go out and do it himself. The judge had had enough. “We can do this the easy way. What is the difficulty of contacting your parents? Somebody has to do it and I would suggest that this is the most practical way”.
And so ended the mini-mutiny in Court 1 as the son did what he was told and went out to phone his father, to inform him that he was a trespasser in what was once the family home.
He paced back and forth across the busy Round Hall, raking his fingers through his hair as he talked, before joining four gentlemen from the New Land League and handing his phone over to spokesman Jerry Beades who spoke at length to a party on the other end.
Back in court, he said his father had “indicated” that he wasn’t a party to the proceedings, that his parents’ position was that there was no order against them, and that he would be appealing the order.
‘Short service’
The bank was prepared. It was able to produce a fresh set of proceedings it had prepared earlier, all ready for “short service” to the occupants of the house.
No longer a legal party to these proceedings, the young man sat back, jotter closed, as a discussion took place about how the papers would be delivered since there was no longer a postbox at the entrance to the house.
They could be affixed to the gate, and confirmed by an email sent to O’Donnell’s email address, said the judge. Only when there was a danger of his father’s email address being read to the court, did Blake bestir himself again, muttering something inaudible. The judge asked him to repeat it.
Remaining seated
Blake started to speak, remaining seated. The judge ordered him to stand up. “I said I don’t think you should say it, it should be handed up,” Blake said, standing up. The judge agreed.
Gathering up his unused files and the jotter, he had a quick consultation with Beades before departing, leaving the New Land League man to field the media questions and bemused observers placing bets on how it would all end.