A High Court judge has reserved judgment on a personal insolvency arrangement application by musician Frank McNamara and his barrister wife Theresa Lowe.
Mr Justice Denis McDonald said he will not give his decision before July because he has “to make sense” of the personal insolvency legislation, which was “drafted in an unhelpful way”.
On Monday he heard more legal submissions in the case in which the couple seek court approval for an arrangement to assist them in dealing with debts of €3.7 million.
The couple’s lawyer has urged the court to approve the arrangement which is opposed by the main creditor, the fund Tanager DAC.
Mr McNamara (59) worked as musical director on The Late Late Show for 20 years while Ms Lowe (56), was a TV presenter before she going on to qualify as a barrister.
The court heard they remortgaged and sold properties in an attempt to escape what they saw as temporary financial difficulties.
Their main asset is their home in Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, which they say is worth around half a million euro but on which they owed almost €2.3 million.
In final submissions on Monday, Keith Farry BL, for the couple, said, in the personal insolvency arrangement, only the Revenue Commissioners would be doing better than Tanager, but the Revenue was owed just €12,000, a small sum in the overall debt situation.
Tanager would do far worse in a bankruptcy arrangement than under personal insolvency.
It would “win the battle but lose the war” by preventing the arrangement, he said.
Rudi Neuman Shanahan BL, for Tanager, urged that the personal insolvency applications of both Mr McNamara and his wife should fail.