High Court orders couple to repay Donegal woman with interest

The High Court has ordered that a couple who received €280,000 from their friend, a Donegal woman and claimed the money was a gift, must repay the money immediately, with interest.
Earlier this month the court ruled that the money given by 59-year- old Della Kerrigan to her friends John and Jacqueline Keenaghan in 2010 was a loan not a gift.
The money was part of a sum of €750,000 given to Ms Kerrigan, from Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, as compensation for injuries she suffered in a road collision.
The court heard the Keenaghans paid off their debts, financed their children’s education, retrained as counsellors and psychotherapists and opened a new business with the money.
They claimed it was a gift given to them “out of the blue” when they were in financial difficulties.
According to RTE News, Ms Kerrigan meanwhile, is now in very poor financial circumstances, dependent on payments from the Department of Social Protection.
Today, Ms Justice Deirdre Murphy ruled the Keenaghans must pay interest on the money, at a rate of 8% set under legislation, beginning from 2014, when Ms Kerrigan originally asked Mrs Keenaghan to begin repaying the money.
The judge awarded the costs of the eight day hearing against the Keenaghans despite a plea for “some little mercy” from their barrister Desmond Murphy, to award just six days’ costs.
The judge refused to postpone making her final orders pending a possible appeal by the Keenaghans.