Galway Bay fm newsroom:
The High Court has ruled that a financial fund affiliated to US investment banking giant Goldman Sachs is entitled to an order for the possession of a property in Galway.
Ennis Property Finance DAC which is controlled by the American bank, sought the order in respect of a house located in Devon Park, in Salthill.
The fund brought proceedings against the property's owner Mr Henry Greally, who had opposed the application.
Ennis Property Finance claimed it was entitled to an order for possession on basis that Mr Greally had defaulted on loans totaling €550,000 he took out with Bank of Scotland (Ireland) in 2003 and 2006.
The loans were to be used for purposes including capital expenditure and mortgage redemption. The property the subject of the possession order was put up as security for those borrowings.
Ennis Property Finance acquired the loans in 2015.
Mr Greally with addresses at Knocknacarra Park, Salthill and Henry Street Galway had opposed the application on grounds including that the sum of money due an owing arising out of the loans had not been fully explained to him.
He also disputed the validity of personal guarantees allegedly given in respect of the loans, and said that the fund had been reckless in issuing the proceedings where the paper work was not correct.
In his judgement on Monday Mr Justice Garrett Simons said the uncontroverted evidence before the court was that fund is the owner of the registered charge over the property and is entitled to an order for possession.
The Judge said it was an "unusual" case.
While Mr Greally had lawyers representing him, he had sworn an affidavit which was almost entirely irrelevant to and did not engage with the proceedings before the court.
It seemed to be directed at separate proceedings with Ennis Property has taken against him seeking summary judgement, the judge said.
The judge also concluded that the fund does have a power of sale over the property, which the court was told currently has people living in it.
After delivering his decision judge awarded Ennis Property Finance its legal costs of the action and placed a stay of one month on the possession order.
