A CASE TAKEN by the Quinn family in which it is disputing debts of €2.3 billion is expected to come before the courts in the spring of next year.

The money, issued by Anglo Irish Bank, which is now part of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, was loaned for reasons to do with supporting Anglo’s share price and the loans are, therefore, tainted with illegality, according to the family.

In September, the family’s solicitors, Eversheds, were allowed come off record as their clients could no longer afford to pay them. The firm had been working on the family’s claim in relation to the €2.3 billion debt, and also on its defence in the case taken by the bank in which it alleges a conspiracy by the family to put certain secured assets beyond the bank’s reach.

Last month the High Court was told that an English firm of solicitors, Edwin Coe, may be assisting the family in its case against the debt, by way of securing representation by Irish lawyers and managing the litigation.

How the case would be funded is not clear. In a letter to Aoife Quinn and her husband, Stephen Kelly, dated September 23rd, David Greene of Edwin Coe referred to the family’s difficulty with funding the action. “We are very familiar with the position of the funding of litigation in many jurisdictions and we are seeking to ensure that the matter can proceed to trial,” he wrote.

Two weeks ago a group calling itself Concerned Irish Businesses said it had raised pledges of up to €2 million to assist the Quinn family. According to spokesman Adrian McCaffrey, efforts are now in train to establish a legal structure that will allow these pledges to be activated.