Former Miss Ireland Pamela Flood and her restaurateur husband, Ronan Ryan, have been given a temporary reprieve from repossession of their home in Dublin.
Tanager Dac, the company which owns their loan, gave an assurance to the High Court on Thursday that it would not evict them before a further hearing of their case in September.
Ross Maguire SC, for the couple, in turn gave the court an undertaking that they would continue to meet monthly repayments.
Ms Justice Deirdre Murphy warned the couple, who live in Clontarf, they would have to continue paying their €3,700 monthly mortgage repayments as they fall due.
This was a condition of the court having extracted an assurance from Tanager Dac that it would not in the meantime move to evict them, the judge said.
Barrister Kevin Pidgeon, who appeared for the so-called vulture fund, told the court that Tanager, following a decision of Judge Jacqueline Linnane in the Circuit Court not to grant the couple a stay, had written to Ms Flood and Mr Ryan telling them it intended to execute its re-possession order.
Mr Pidgeon said he was instructed to offer the court an undertaking that Tanager would not take any further steps against the couple pending the resolution by the High Court of an application by them for a stay pending an appeal of Judge Linnane’s order.
Judge Linnane, despite having been told that Mr Ryan had obtained a Protective Certificate under last-minute personal insolvency proceedings, granted Tanager leave to execute a consent possession order signed by Flood and Ryan and made an order of court on March 8th last.
At that time the couple had accepted a four months stay on the possession order to allow them to find alternative accommodation and had undertaken to vacate their home at Mount Prospect Avenue, Clontarf, on or before July 9th.
When Judge Linnane heard they had instead obtained a Protective Certificate, granting them a 70-day protection from all and any of their creditors, she continued a full hearing of their case and granted Tanager leave to execute the March 8th consent possession order. She refused to grant the couple a stay.
Mr Justice Denis McDonald also refused to grant them a stay when the matter came before him last week but put their application for a stay in for further consideration by the High Court on Thursday.
Ms Justice Murphy today granted both sides leave to lodge affidavits setting out their submissions on whether or not there are arguable grounds for the granting of a stay. She adjourned proceedings until September 2nd.