On Wednesday, Brian O’Donnell and his solicitor son, Blake, were back in the Four Courts, just the two of them. They sat opposite each other on the plaintiffs’ side of the bench, less perky than before and outgunned seven to two by the Bank of Ireland team – unless you counted about eight Land League supporters.
The league’s John Martin approached us seeking support for a homeless march. He then said he was with the Land League but declined to identify the others. They were like the CIA, he said, laughing: they operate in cells.
Jerry Beades, the league’s busy director and the O’Donnells’ de facto spokesman, was late. He was making his way from the airport, said a follower – “Sure he has to earn a crust.”
They were all gathered in a lovely old courtroom of the Court of Appeal, which most citizens might assume to be the court of last resort. But even that throws up exceptions, it turns out.
By the time Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan had read extracts from the three-judge court’s unanimous judgment and rejected the five grounds of appeal, Brian and Blake O’Donnell had been through a court-appropriate gamut of emotion, mainly involving some slight eye-rolling, a little face and hair-rubbing at the most stressful times, and some picking at fingernails.
Indications of satisfaction
At one point, as the judge began the section on the interlocutory injunction appeal and used the words “the appellants are correct in their submission”, there were palpable indications of satisfaction.
Blake smiled and his note-taking took on renewed vigour while his father raised an eyebrow towards the bank’s counsel, Cian Ferriter.
But the high mood receded rapidly as the ruling – again – turned against them. The O’Donnells were “not without a home if the injunction is granted. They have a home in England,” went the judgment, noting that in the High Court affidavit Mr O’Donnell had given only his English address while in the appeal court he had given both Gorse Hill and his English home as his address.
Blake pulled wearily at an eyebrow and Brian O’Donnell slumped for a minute or two. But, inevitably, he was quickly back on his feet, announcing they would be considering an appeal and requesting a stay of two weeks.
An exasperated Ferriter pointed out they had an entitlement to apply for leave to appeal – which would be permitted only if it was a matter of general public importance, and there had only been one of those. Yet they could conceivably live in Gorse Hill for up to 12 weeks on that basis.
In the end, the judge gave them a stay of two weeks, so they win another reprieve in Gorse Hill.
The bank was anxious to talk about costs. The judge thought 4.15pm on April 22nd. Brian O’Donnell said that was “a very difficult week – some personal commitment I have to attend to”. So they held it at 4pm on Wednesday. In short order, costs were awarded against the O’Donnells. The bank won that bout too.
At that point, Brian and Blake O’Donnell hurtled towards the door, leaving their files behind, with the air of defeated men, followed by Beades and cell members.
They are a tenacious people. Five years of applications, hearings and appeals have taken the O’Donnell family all the way to the High Court, the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and possibly, back to the Supreme Court. Parents and children are reckoned to have racked up between 40 and 50 court days both here and in the UK, since the €71.5 million judgment against them. They have demanded that two High Court judges recuse themselves. Declared bankrupt on a petition of the bank in 2013, Brian O’Donnell and his wife appealed it to the Supreme Court. The appeal was dismissed, upon which they followed with a motion to annul it. It’s now back with the High Court.
And so the very expensive proceedings – what the bank calls “a whole series of vexatious actions” – carry on. Technically the O’Donnells, acting for themselves, have not reached the end of the line. They could even take it to Europe.
Meanwhile, receiver Tom Kavanagh is claiming €12,500 a month from them in lost revenue. That’s how much he reckons Gorse Hill – dismissed as “bog standard” by Beades – would be worth as a rental.
But the upshot of the latest bout is that the O’Donnells get to remain in Gorse Hill for at least a fortnight, in the house that presents the bank’s best chance of getting a fraction of its money back.
