A COUPLE who had a relationship in the 1960s before breaking up and marrying different spouses, got back together 28 years later, a court heard yesterday.
Mr Justice John Edwards was told in the High Court that the couple now lived in an intolerable situation in which they share the same roof but barely speak to each other.
Martin Gleeson SC said Marie Sheehy and Thomas Talbot from 1990 lived above The Tuck Shop which Ms Sheehy owned in Sutton, Dublin, until they jointly bought a three bedroom house in Inbhir Íde, Malahide.
Mr Gleeson, for Ms Sheehy, said she had asked the Circuit Civil Court to determine the financial interest of each in the €500,000 property. He said Mr Talbot, a retired insurance official, had appealed to the High Court, the Circuit Court’s decision to divide the property 50-50. Judge Edwards heard that following the break-up of Mr Talbot’s marriage and the death of Ms Sheehy’s husband, the couple had been reintroduced by a mutual friend. They had contributed almost evenly to buy the Malahide property for €48,000 in 1992.
They had rented the Inbhir Íde house until 1995 when Ms Sheehy (64) had sold The Tuck Shop and they had moved into it themselves.
Ms Sheehy said following a kitchen extension, Mr Talbot would have owed her just under €12,000. Mr Talbot (71) said he had raised a €28,000 mortgage towards the house purchase and had carried out a lot of work to the house and gardens, and cared for Ms Sheehy following two hip operations.
He told Judge Edwards he estimated he would need €350,000 from any sale of the house, giving him a split of 65/35 in his favour.
He said he was currently involved in court cases against his former employer as well as Hermitage Golf Club, the club secretary and the Golfing Union of Ireland as well as a company of solicitors he claimed had defrauded him. He was also disputing his mother’s will but felt he would not enter a legal battle over it.
Judgment was reserved on apportionment of interest in the Inbhir Íde house.