Letter to the Louth and Meath Court Registrar from the Louth Land League..... Re: Introduction Descriptor of the Louth Land League and General Queries Dear Registrar, I write as acting Secretary of the Louth Land League and in furtherance of decisions made at the most recent meeting of Louth Land League members. It was decided at that meeting that I, as acting Secretary, write to you to formally introduce the Louth land League to you as Court Registrar and to outline the voluntary work we do and our peaceful intentions. It was also decided at that same recent meeting that I communicate to you a number of queries that were raised at the meeting. The Louth Land League was established five months ago and is affiliated to the “Reformed Land League” but retains all decision making powers at a local level. The central objective of the League in County Louth is to assist and support homeowners at risk of losing their homes through mortgage debt collection processes, from the point that home owners fall into arrears, throughout the MARP and negotiation stages, to prosecution by lenders and enforcement by agents of the Courts accompanied by private security personnel. To this end we have amassed a sizable body of knowledge in terms of building the confidence and skills in people to defend themselves. Our assistance is manifest in regular public and member meetings, correspondence workshops, Mckenzie be-friending, educational programmes, a monthly newsletter (3,000 copies distributed locally in November) and so on. Our belief is that our assistance not only addresses the practical elements of defending the home, but also the stress, depression and anxiety felt by so many that are brought before our courts by lending institutions. Accompanying the educational and advocacy functions of the Louth Land League, we are also pro-active in our efforts to dissuade national and local firms from assisting lending institutions throughout the “repossession” process. We include in our list of firms: Legal professionals and firms; security companies; Locksmiths; Estate Agents and Receivers. Our efforts in this regard are entirely peaceful and rely upon a strategy of initially negotiating with the identified professionals and firms, and where negotiation fails, mounting an escalating, peaceful boycott centred on the question “Do you want the long term business of your community or short term, morally degenerate trade from the “repossession” industry?” Introductions concluded, the latter reason in corresponding with you today is to seek resolution to a number of queries raised at the most recent member’s meeting of the Louth Land League. Those queries are as follows….. (i) Is the Registrar’s Court empowered to deal in matters of a constitutional nature such as a Defence in which the constitutionality of the claims of the Plaintiff are questioned by the Defendant? Have there been any instances of attempts at raising constitutional matters in your court, and if so what was your direction/approach to this? If not, what is your current position on the raising of constitutional matters in your court? (ii) Does a family home have a rateable value? If so, could you please direct me to the legislation that creates that rating system and the public interface of that system. If the family home does not have a rateable value, please outline how you have/would respond to an application to your court from a lender in which the sums claimed owed are above the Circuit Court threshold but where the Plaintiff Lender is claiming that the concerned property has a rateable value? (iii) It was noted at a recent Dundalk sitting of your court that in one particular case, the second last case of that particular list, you delayed significantly and most noticeably in dealing with the matters as the Plaintiff Lender’s Legal representation had not shown up. This delay, which I personally witnessed, became farcical as you appeared to telephone the reception to see if they had arrived yet and then, it appeared, began to call out cases that had already been called, and called these expired cases out to a courtroom with not one solicitor in it. I can only conclude that you were delaying on behalf of the Plaintiff although a similar approach was not noted when Defendants were not present. I am prepared to be corrected in my conclusions. The query arising from this incident is: Is it normal practice to extend such facilities to Plaintiff banks but not to those defending their home? (iv) It has also been raised at our recent meeting that a local Solicitor, namely Mr. Begley, appears to be prosecuting a majority of claims against local homeowners on behalf of Plaintiff banks, and it is rumoured that he is doing so as an employee of your husband’s legal firm who themselves are acting as agents for larger Dublin City firms. Can you confirm if this is true, and if this is true, can you as Registrar convey to me your opinion on possible interpretations of these arrangements as a conflict of interests and a risk to the credibility of our justice system at a local level? On behalf of the Louth Land League, we appreciate the time you have taken to read this correspondence and the time you take to reply. We look forward to working amicably with your court officers and personnel into the future. Finbar Markey ___________________ (Secretary)
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 16:37:06 +0000
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