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Record €60m debt write-off for former quarry operator gets High Court approval

A former quarry operator has had a €60m debt write-off approved by the High Court – the largest ever under personal insolvency legislation.

Enda Patrick Whelan’s debts included €56.4m owed to Nama, mostly due to personal guarantees given to Anglo Irish Bank in respect of companies in the Whelan Group.

Three of those companies are now in liquidation and one is in receivership.

The businesses got into difficulty due to the collapse of the building industry.

The 46-year-old will retain his family home in Ennis, Co Clare, valued at €230,000, under his personal insolvency arrangement (PIA).

His creditors will receive a lump sum of €56,300 under the arrangement, devised by personal insolvency practitioner (PIP) Jim Stafford.

Creditors will get dividends ranging from just 0.01 cent to 1.37 cent in the euro.

But counsel for the PIP, Keith Farry BL, told Mr Justice Mark Sanfey creditors would receive no return whatsoever if Mr Whelan went into bankruptcy.

The court heard Mr Whelan’s household income was now €2,175 and, after reasonable living expenses were taken into account, he had “no surplus” to make any additional payments to creditors.

Nama originally objected to the arrangement, but its counsel, Eithne Corry BL, said the objections were withdrawn after some changes were made. These included lengthening the three-month arrangement by having an effective supervision period of a year.

The court heard Mr Whelan owed Bank of Ireland just €4,685 on the mortgage of the family home he shares with his wife and young child and that he will continue to make monthly mortgage payments of €716. However, Cabot Asset Management and Bank of Scotland (Ireland) had judgment mortgages valued at €1.4m each over the family home, while Everyday Finance was also owed €905,000.

The judgment mortgages will now be deregistered under the terms of the PIA.

In an affidavit, Mr Whelan said that if the PIA application had failed, he would have petitioned for bankruptcy.

He said his liability to Nama did not relate to money he personally borrowed, but rather a personal guarantee he gave as an additional guarantee for the company borrowings.

“The economic downturn and collapse of the building industry in recent years has resulted in the liquidation of these companies which left substantial borrowings for which I am personally liable.”

Mr Whelan said he became “instantly insolvent” when the guarantee was called in.

The impact of having legacy debts hang over him for almost a decade had been “considerable” and included “great stress” and difficulty getting a proper night’s sleep.

Mr Whelan said he had spent years engaging with creditors with no resolution.

He said he was now self-employed and working three days while providing care for his elderly father and that the job prospects for a 46-year-old quarry machine operator in the mid-west were limited at present.

Irish Independent

Girl (7) awarded €20k after head and neck were trapped in electric gates while playing

A passer-by, hearing the screams of a seven-year-old girl whose head and neck was trapped in electric gates, helped in forcing them open and freeing her, the Circuit Civil Court heard today.

Barrister Alannah McGurk told Judge Kathryn Hutton that the terrifying incident took place a short distance from Layla O’Neill’s home in an apartment block at Marrsfield Avenue, Clongriffin, Dublin 13.

Ms McGurk, who appeared with Barry Healy Solicitors, said Layla had been playing with friends near an underground car park at the apartments and had gone to retrieve a ball when the electrically operated gates started to close.

“The gates closed on Layla’s neck trapping her by the head,” Ms McGurk told the court. “A workman had heard Layla scream and shouted for help, alerting her father.”

She said that between them the two men had succeeded in forcing the gates open far enough to release Layla who was now aged 14. The incident had occurred on 18th June 2014.

Ms McGurk said Layla had been taken by ambulance under spinal protection to Temple Street Children’s Hospital with a suspected head injury. She had been treated for abrasions to her neck and shoulders and detained overnight for observation and discharged the following day.

She said Layla had afterwards suffered from pain to both sides of her neck and to her left shoulder which had been bruised. A series of x-rays had revealed there had been no bone injuries.

Ms McGurk said Layla’s physical injuries had cleared up after about three weeks. She had continued to suffer psychologically from recurring nightmares but was now fully recovered.

Layla had suffered post-traumatic stress following entrapment that she had perceived as life threatening.

Layla, through her mother Joanne O’Neill, sued Pierse Contracting Ltd (In Receivership) with a registered address at Birmayne House, Mulhuddart, a company responsible for the construction, development, control and operation of the electric gates. Fieldmark Management Company Ltd , Mespil Road, Dublin 4, was a joint defendant.

Ms McGurk said the defendants had offered Layla a settlement of €20,000 which she recommended to the court and which Judge Hutton approved.

Irish Independent

Woman tells court she fears for her safety as man constantly rings and texts her.

A judge has granted court protection to a woman whose ex-partner is threatening to post intimate videos and photos of her on Facebook.

At the family law court in Ennis, Judge Patrick Durcan granted the woman a two-year safety order against the man.

The woman told the judge that she is in fear for her safety because of the man.

In a statement to the court, the woman stated the man is constantly sending her text messages and ringing her.

She said that she blocked him on her phone but that he keeps getting a new phone number.

She stated she also found that the man is following her every day.

She stated the man is blackmailing her “and has intimate photos and videos of me and is threatening to put them up on Facebook”.

The man was not in court to contest the application for the safety order and Judge Durcan granted the safety order for two years.

irishtimes.com

Programme costing about €112m would replace lever-arch files with computers

One of the odder sights down the Four Courts is a courtroom packed with barristers in their black gowns, and solicitors in their best suits, waiting their turn for a quick audience with an overburdened judge.

“Is your case ready to go ahead on the assigned date?” the judge will ask a barrister when his or her case is called. “We’re ready,” one barrister might say, only for the man or woman representing the other party to say there is still a problem.

Sometimes there can be three or four parties involved in a case, so there will be three or four barristers waiting in court, for up to an hour or more, for their two- or three-minute slot to discuss the filing of documents or some other procedural issue.

It is not unusual for there to be both solicitors and barristers in court for these brief discussions. Everyone involved will expect to be paid, and it is the client who will do the paying.

Court cases are very stressful for the parties involved. Yet it is not unknown for people to turn up with their legal teams on the morning they’ve been told their case is scheduled to begin, only to be told there is no judge available. Or to turn up to hear a reserved judgment being delivered, only to be told on the morning that it’s not ready. Again it is the client who ends up paying the cost.

A behavioural economist might suggest that if it was the legal profession that ended up out of pocket as a result of such inefficiencies, rather than garnering more fees from them, the system might have been improved a few decades ago.

irishtimes.com for full story

Schoolgirl awarded €40,000 damages after dislocating her knee on cinema cup holder

An eight-year-old schoolgirl, who dislocated a knee when she fell in a Dun Laoghaire cinema, has been awarded €40,000 damages in the Circuit Civil Court for personal injuries.

Barrister Siobhan Gaffney told the court that Tori McDermott Ellis had tripped on an uneven floor surface in the IMC Cinema at the Bloomfield Shopping Centre, Dun Laoghaire, on October 2 2016.

Ms Gaffney, who appeared with Murphys Solicitors, said Tori, who is now aged 12, had struck her left knee against a cup holder on a cinema seat and was unable to get up afterwards.

She said Tori had been taken by ambulance to Crumlin Children’s Hospital where an X-ray revealed her left kneecap had been dislocated. The kneecap had been re-located during surgery under sedation.

Ms Gaffney told Judge Francis Comerford that Tori’s left leg had been placed in a cast for several weeks and she had missed school for some of that time. She had undergone a series of physiotherapy treatments.

Counsel said Tori, whose home is in Parc Na Silla Lane, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, had recovered well and she pointed out to the court that the Injuries Board Book of Quantum valued such an injury between €28,000 and €56,000.

Ms Gaffney said that while liability had not been formally admitted the €40,000 settlement had been agreed in talks prior to today’s court application.

Tori, through her mother Mellissa Ellis, had sued Irish Multiplex Cinemas Limited, Dunlaoghaire, and Judge Comerford approved the settlement together with costs.

Irish Independent

‘He didn’t even stop to check if I was alive’ – cyclist’s fury at driver who sped off from accident scene

A motorist who mowed down a cyclist but failed to stop, and then drove by the scene of the accident just minutes later, has been put off the road for two years.

Kevin Kennedy left Hugh McLaughlin in agonising pain from his injuries when he struck him from behind in his Citroen Berlingo van in Co Donegal in September 2018.

Father-of-three and keen cyclist Mr McLaughlin had been out for a ride between Dochary and Dungloe around 8pm on a bright evening.

In a victim impact statement to Dungloe District Court, where Kennedy appeared on dangerous driving charges, Mr McLaughlin told how he thought he would never see his family again.

But he said the most frightening part of the crash was how Kennedy casually drove by him minutes after knocking him down, instead of calling for the emergency services.

Mr McLaughlin, from Dungloe, said: “It was a nice bright evening and I was wearing my hi-viz fluorescent cycling top.

“I had rounded a corner and was cycling downhill on a straight stretch of road, probably at a speed between 30 and 35kmh, when I was struck from behind and sent flying into the air and ended up landing face-down in the ditch.

“I looked ahead of me and in disbelief and I could see the grey Citroen Berlingo van which had struck me about 100m farther in the road and then it disappeared out of sight. I have a great interest in cars and knew immediately who the van belonged to.”

Mr McLaughlin said he was quite badly cut on his right side and was bleeding from a gash on his arm. A passing motorist called an ambulance.

He said gardaí arrived and while giving them his details, he saw the same van “with its distinctive chrome bullbar” coming down the road.

“I actually walked out in front of it with my hands out in front of me in an attempt to stop it, but it just passed on by,” he said. “The guards realised it was the van also and took off after it with the blue lights and siren on, and stopped it a few miles out the road.”

Kennedy (51), of Meenderryherk, Dungloe, faced a number of charges including dangerous driving, leaving the scene of an accident and not reporting an accident.

Mr McLaughlin said it was a “despicable act” to drive by someone after knocking them down and then to drive by them and not to check if they were alive or dead.

Passing sentence, Judge Paul Kelly banned Kennedy from driving for two years and also ordered him to do 100 hours of community service in lieu of four months in prison.

Irish Independent

A Canadian tourist who fell down the stairs of a double- decker tourist bus in Dublin has sued in the High Court.

Susan Riches (63) claims the accident happened when the bus jerked after allegedly pulling in for St Patrick’s Cathedral.

The retired real estate administrator claimed she now suffers post-concussion syndrome and has regular migraines after she was propelled down the stairs, hitting her head, suffering cuts to her face and breaking a finger.

The court was told it was her case she was thrown headlong down the stairs.

She was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and she suffered nightmares and flashbacks and she now says she has a significant fear of stairs and escalators.

The bus operators and owners have claimed the bus had not stopped at the cathedral but was stopped in traffic and had not reached the tour stop.

They said it was an unfortunate accident but claim that it was the tourist’s fault.

Ms Riches and her husband Patrick were in Dublin for the first time on the last leg of a transatlantic cruise which had started in Miami and had taken in the Azores and Irish ports.

She told the court they docked in Dublin and got on a Hop On Hop Off tourist bus on April 30, 2018.

“At St Patrick’s Cathedral I headed for the stairs. I took a step and the bus turned and jerked and I flew through the air,” Ms Riches said.

“I felt the bus turned. It propelled me forward. I hit my face.

“I ended up on the floor of the bus. I felt in shock and I was bleeding.”

Ms Riches, of Olivers Road, Bobcaygeon, Ontario, has sued the owners and operators of the tourist bus, Last Bus Ltd and Citi Bus Ltd, both with offices at Moorhill House, Brannockstown, Co Kildare, and Park Fly Ltd and Dockstop Ltd, both with offices at South Bank House, Barrow Street, Dublin. She claimed there was a failure to have regard for the safety of passengers they ought to have known were disembarking from the bus.

There was also an alleged failure to warn the passengers the bus was going to be further moved as they disembarked.

The claims are denied. It is contended there was contributory negligence on the part of Ms Riches and she should have had regard for her own safety.

Ms Riches told the court the driver did not have bandages or a phone to call an ambulance but he helped take her off the bus.

Irish Independent

Taxi driver ripped-off customers 270 times using remote control

A taxi driver scammed passengers 270 times over a six-month period by secretly using a remote control to add €9 to fares, a court has heard.

It was the second case to come before Dublin District Court since the National Transport Authority (NTA) launched an investigation into widespread use of a remote device to rip-off unsuspecting taxi passengers.

Raymond Pidgeon (63), from Kilakee Close, Greenpark, Walkinstown, Dublin 12, pleaded guilty yesterday to overcharging customers 270 times contrary to the Taxi Regulation Act. He was accused of using a concealed remote control device to increase fares on his meter, which he did 15 times a week from February 1 until June 12 last year.

As a result of mitigating factors, he was handed a nominal fine of €200 and ordered to pay €400 in prosecution costs.

NTA inspector Liam Kavanagh told the court he investigated claims some taxis were systematically overcharging passengers by covertly using a remote device with certain meters. Following a customer complaint, Pidgeon had been interviewed by the NTA in mid-June about a €20 overcharge on a fare. The inspector became suspicious by Pidgeon’s explanation and €9 could not be accounted for.

He learned the taxi driver used an Aguila meter, the type being used with the remote control. He cautioned Pidgeon again and told him he was also investigating the use of remote devices to overcharge taxi passengers. “At that point he broke down and admitted he was one of the drivers,” the NTA inspector said. He had done it for eight months but could only be charged for the offences committed over the latest six-month period.

As a result of the NTA investigation, 206 taxi meters were recalled and had to be recalibrated. Pidgeon, who had no prior convictions, was co-operative. Prosecuting solicitor Jason Teahan said the NTA was aware the accused had a severely ill wife.

Judge Anthony Halpin asked the accused what had motivated him. Pidgeon said he had money worries and his wife had been in hospital.

Irish Independent

Irish Water fined for failing to address drinking water problems in Cork

IRISH WATER has been fined €2,000 and ordered to pay €5,500 in legal costs for failing to address drinking water problems in Co Cork.

The national water utility, which is responsible for providing and developing water and wastewater services throughout Ireland, faced charges following a direction given on June 5, 2015 by the EPA.

The prosecution brought by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was in respect of the supply of drinking water at Drimoleague and Kealkill.

The court heard Irish Water failed to submit final reports to the EPA before the end of 2018, verifying that trihalomethanes (THMs) levels were not excessive.

THMs, which can have a possible carcinogenic effects if consumed over long periods, are a bi-product of chlorination todisinfect ground water, which makes their way into the public water supply.

The case was listed again before Anthony Halpin at Dublin District Court today for finalisation. A guilty plea had been marked in October.

The court heard it was expected Irish Water will be compliant in the near future.

Judge Halpin convicted it and imposed two fines each in the sum of €1,000 and he ordered a contribution to prosecution costs. A joint EPA-HSE statement had been posted online in 2011 about the health effects impact of excessive THMs.

Meanwhile, two other EPA prosecutions against Irish Water were adjourned until March.

They were in connection with alleged sewage problems in Co Kildare and in Co Cork.

It is alleged from March 14 to March 21, 2019, Irish Water failed to take corrective action or notify the agency as soon as practicable about three incidents of discharge of untreated sewage from Newhall Pumping Station into the River Liffey, with potential for environmental contamination of surface water.

It is also accused of not informing Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), theState agency responsible for the protection, management and conservation of Ireland’s inland fisheries and sea angling resources.

The water company is also accused of failing to maintain a programme for the maintenance and operation of all plant and equipment used at Newhall Pumping Station to ensure no unauthorised waste water discharges took place.

It is alleged, in another charge, that there was a failure to tell another treatment plant which operates the downstream Leixlip drinking water abstraction point, about the three incidents of raw sewage discharge.

It is also accused of failing to make a record of the extent or impact of the incidents.

It is alleged the company breached its wastewater discharge licence by excessive ammonia emissions from its water works in Boherbue, Co Cork, on eight dates between August 2017 and February 2019.

It faces eight similar counts in relation to exceeding emission limit values from orthophosphates from August 2017 until a date in January 2019.

In an EPA prosecution last month, Judge Halpin fined Irish Water €1,500 and ordered it to pay €850 to the EPA for its expenses, and a further €5,000 toward legal costs.

The court had heard in that case that Malahide marina was polluted with enough raw sewage to fill two and a half Olympic-size swimming pools.

It followed a water treatment plant malfunction which has since been rectified. During that hearing the court heard the company already had 14 prior convictions in relation to environmental protection cases.

Irish Independent

US firm secures High Court injunction here over ‘$6m blackmail’

A company that claims it is being blackmailed by hackers seeking $6m (€5.3m) has secured an emergency High Court injunction aimed at removing confidential information posted about it on the internet.

Southwire Company LLC secured a temporary order against what are believed to be two Polish nationals and an Irish-registered company that are all allegedly linked to a website publishing confidential information about it.

The company does not say the individuals or the corporate entity named in its proceedings are behind or involved with the cyber attack.

At the High Court in Dublin, Jim O’Callaghan SC, appearing with Anthony Thuillier BL, said his client is based in the US state of Georgia, manufactures cable and wiring and employs thousands of people.

Counsel said that on December 9, Southwire was the subject of a cyber attack, resulting in many of its computer files being encrypted.

The hackers, whose identities, counsel said, are unknown, demanded a payment in the online Bitcoin currency equivalent to just over $6m to decrypt the files.

No ransom payment was made, and the company sought expert advice on how to deal with the situation.

The “criminal act” against Southwire is being investigated by the FBI, he said.

Counsel said the attackers became impatient with the refusal to pay the ransom.

The court was told that in recent days the attackers had posted confidential information contained in the company’s files on a website.

Counsel said Southwire was extremely concerned about this and was seeking orders from the Irish High Court after its investigations revealed that the nine-digit IP address of that website is registered to a company called World Hosting Farm Ltd (WHFL).

Janusz Dybko, with an address c/o New Mallow Road, Cork, is listed as being the contact person in regards to that particular IP address, which is owned by WHFL, counsel said.

WHFL, which counsel said is listed as having being dissolved, has a registered addresses at New Mallow Road, Cork, and more recently at Dawson Street in Dublin. The owner and director of the company is listed as an Artur Grabowski, of St Budzynskiego, Slupsk, Poland, counsel said.

The company’s secretary is listed as a firm called Admiral Tax Ltd, with a current registered address at Fairview, Clontarf, Dublin.

Counsel said its previous address was listed as the same address as WHFL’s Cork address.

The company wrote to Mr Grabowski, Mr Dybko and Admiral Tax asking them to cease and desist from hosting anything displaying the confidential information taken by the hackers. No reply to those demands was received.

As a result, the company sought injunctions against those three parties as well as persons unknown.

The injunction requires the defendants to remove all data relating to Southwire and its customers from the website.

The order also compels the defendants to hand over data taken from Southwire, and that no further material from the firm be published online or anywhere else.

The temporary injunction was granted, on an ex-parte basis, by Ms Justice Mary Rose Gearty who made the matter returnable to a date in mid-January.

Irish Independent