A Beaufort man has not paid a cent of the more-than €12,500 he owed to Tattersalls when an instalment order was granted in March 2015, Cahersiveen District Court has heard.
idan O’Reilly of Shanacloon, Beaufort, was to pay six €2,000 monthly instalments to the horse-auction mart, with the first payment due in June 2015. A seventh payment of just over €500 would have cleared the balance.
Solicitor Brendan Ahern, representing Tattersalls, told the court that Mr O’Reilly now owes almost €18,000 when court-act interest is included. Tattersalls Accounts Manager Declan O’Connor said “nothing has been paid” by Mr O’Reilly.
Defence solicitor Padraig O’Connell said the order should have been revisited and taken his client’s means into account. Had that happened, it would have been clear that Mr O’Reilly “couldn’t possibly make that payment”, he told the court.
Judge David Waters said that if Mr O’Reilly was able to pay but refused to pay, he will find him in breach of a Court Order and will send him to prison. He said Mr O’Reilly needs to convince him not to make that ruling.
The court heard that Mr O’Reilly did not engage with the creditor to either make a payment or attempt to rectify the situation. The sitting did not go into specific details of what the money was owed for except to say “there was a horse involved”.
Mr O’Reilly has not sworn a statement of means. He said he receives €220 a week and has other bills and debts to pay. He said he is totally bereft of money.
He does not own a car and has no money in his Credit Union and bank accounts, he said, and last worked a year and a half ago.
The court heard that he worked full-time for some years as a plumber in the UK and Australia. He said business was not good, and his money went towards living in Australia.
Judge David Waters adjourned the matter to the May sitting of Cahersiveen District Court, and he said Mr O’Reilly must submit a Statement of Means by April 1. He told Mr Ahern this would give his client more than a month to make any enquiries it wishes to make between then and the May sitting.
