A LIMERICK woman who was ordered to pay €332 a month to avoid her home being repossessed by Bank of Ireland has been told that the ruling can only be reversed by the Court of Appeal in Dublin.
The woman, who applied to Limerick Circuit Court to overturn the order made by now retired Judge Carroll Moran in 2012, was told by Judge Thomas O’Brien that the application had no standing and was “misconceived”.
The county Limerick mother said she had been brought before the County Registrar’s Court in 2011 and 2012 after she fell into financial difficulty with her mortgage repayments.
Bank of Ireland then issued legal proceedings to repossess her home.
After the repossession order was granted she appealed the decision to the Circuit Court and the case was heard by Judge Carroll Moran in May 2012. Upholding the County Registrar’s ruling, Judge Moran put an indefinite stay on the order on condition that the woman paid €332.08 to the bank every month until her loan was fully repaid.
This week, the woman applied to the Circuit Court for the order to be reversed and cited a number of legal precedents.
Opposing the motion on behalf of the bank, Siobhan Gallagher BL said that there were other remedies open to the woman in respect of the decision. The application was “misconceived” as there was a full and final ruling in place.
Judge O’Brien advised the woman to seek leave to appeal the ruling to the Court of Appeal and to get legal representation.
Earlier, Judge O’Brien was forced to leave the bench after two supporters of a woman in another case interrupted the court on a number of occasions.
The woman, who was also representing herself, asked the judge to strike out the case brought by the bank as they did not have a solicitor present in court.
He halted proceedings after two men started heckling and making comments to the court.
After Gardaà escorted the men from the court, Judge O’Brien adjourned the case to next Tuesday ordering that both parties be represented.
