UP TO 400 complaints had been made to gardaí about the behaviour of a Dublin family, a judge heard yesterday.
Circuit Court president Mr Justice Matthew Deery told Dublin City Council officials they could put the O’Hare family out of the house on n Berryfield Road, Finglas, Dublin.
He granted Paula O’Hare, who lives in the house with her daughter Sabrina O’Hare, a stay of two months before the council may move in to repossess the rented property.
Carol O’Farrell, for the local authority, said the council was seeking a warrant for possession under section 62 of the Housing Act 1966 on the grounds that Ms O’Hare and “members of the household” had engaged in anti-social behaviour.
The application had initially been made last December but Mr Justice Deery had asked for detailed evidence to ensure the council was not “capriciously or whimsically” seeking legal termination of the tenancy simply by the service of a valid notice to quit.
Garda Patricia Doyle told the court that in her eight years at Finglas Garda station, there had been between 300 and 400 complaints made about the family. She said there had been 196 convictions obtained against four members of the family, mainly for traffic offences.
City housing manager Michael Clarke said complaints, including alleged threatening behaviour and harassment of neighbours, went back as far as 1998. In turn, Ms O’Hare had complained to the council that gardaí were constantly harassing members of her family.
Mr Justice Deery said he had heard evidence of a Garda search of the house in which ecstasy and other tablets had been found. “It is a sad state of affairs but the evidence is very compelling,” he said.