Romanian squatters may have been illegally held in courtroom

Ray Managh

After a judge committed 27 Romanian squatters to prison for contempt of court it was revealed that only one of them had been legally summoned to appear in court.

This means gardaí would have to arrest the remaining 26 at a Dublin flats complex and bring them to court on Thursday morning.

A mix-up on who was and who was not legally summoned before the court meant that a Romanian man and 11 Romanian women, one of them eight months pregnant, had been detained by gardaí in the courtroom at the Four Courts for two hours.

Judge Roderick Maguire, who directed that 27 named Romanian squatters in the flats complex be jailed for contempt of court, had not made any order directing that the 11 unidentified people who had attended court be held there by gardaí.

There were screams and tears when the 11 people, some of them mothers of young children, were told by gardaí they could not leave the court until transport had arrived for their transfer to prison.

It was two hours later that the judge directed that those in court who had not been properly served with official documentation were free to go, leaving the Garda Commissioner and the State potentially facing claims for wrongful imprisonment.

During their detention in the court room they used mobile phones to contact their partners and children.

One woman properly before the court was told by Judge Maguire he would not send her to prison today on the undertaking she would overnight vacate the flats complex and appear in court again on Thursday.

Court proceedings to evict the squatters from 10 flats at No 9 Belvedere Place, Dublin, by retired solicitor and landlord, Mel Kilrane, have been ongoing form several months on the basis they were squatting in a dangerous building which was at serious fire risk. Mr Kilrane had obtained court orders directing the squatters to move out and which were ignored by the Romanians.

Earlier barrister Joe Jackson, who appeared for Mr Kilrane, told the court his client had already been fined in the District Court for breaching fire regulations.

He said workmen for Mr Kilrane had attempted to enter the property to carry out repairs and renovations but had been faced by angry squatters, some producing knives.

Mr Jackson had told other Circuit Civil Court judges that there were many children among the squatters who claimed they could not afford legal representation. He said there was an ongoing health hazard as the squatters were living in atrocious squalor and “among their own faeces.”

Making orders earlier to attach and commit the named Romanians to prison for contempt of court by ignoring previous orders, Judge Maguire said no-one would thank the court if there was a fire and loss of life.

At earlier hearings judges had expressed concern for the rehousing of the squatters many of whom had children at local schools.

The proceedings were adjourned until Thursday morning.