The High Court has reserved judgment on a bitter family dispute over the development of a mews site which now houses a top south Dublin restaurant.
Renée ffrench O'Carroll, a mother of five, originally from France, has claimed her son Arthur had exerted undue influence on her in getting her to sign a lease for development of the mews premises.
Mr ffrench-O'Carroll, Wellington Place, Clyde Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin, denies his mother's claims regarding a 99-year lease of April 1989 assigning to him the mews premises at Pembroke Lane. The original mews building was demolished in 1998 and a new building constructed, from which the Diep Le Shaker Thai restaurant now operates.
Mr ffrench-O'Carroll appealed to the High Court against the Circuit Court decision last year which found the signing of the disputed lease was procured by undue influence and the lease was therefore null and void.
In his closing submissions yesterday for Mr ffrench O'Carroll, Patrick Brady SC, said his client and his wife Christine had "expended £200,000 into the premises in 1989 and 1990" and his client's mother knew that. The couple had "invested their life, their time and their youth for over 10 years into the business".
For Ms ffrench O'Carroll, Brian Dempsey SC said this was a case where a French lady was given a top Dublin address. "She is abandoned by her husband and has to find a respectable way of providing for her family. That lady would have been thought to be in a vulnerable position."
Mr Dempsey said Ms ffrench O'Carroll wished to help her youngest child to get on his feet and be independent. The court must "recognise the moral pressure that the plaintiff was under with, to use the phrase, 'the last of her chicks'."
Mr Justice Thomas Smyth said he would deliver judgment as soon as possible.