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A third man was jailed after he refused to agree to stay away from a Roscommon farm, which was the scene of a controversial eviction in 2018.
This afternoon, Colm Granahan was committed to Mountjoy Prison by Judge Leonie Reynolds after he rejected the court’s request to say whether he would stay away from the property in Falsk, Strokestown, Co Roscommon.
Earlier this week, Michael Anthony McGann, owner of the property, and retired Garda Kevin Taylor of Dublin Rd, Longford, were jailed for failing to comply with a commitment to comply with orders to vacate the farm.
Judge Reynolds told Mr. Granahan that if he was unwilling to compromise, she “had no choice” but to send him to Mountjoy until he was willing to purge his contempt.
He urged Granahan, of Ballina, Co Mayo, to seek legal advice and said his case and that of the other men would be reviewed next week.
As Gardaí took it away, Granahan asked the judge if they “have a television upstairs in Mountjoy” as he wanted to watch the Irish soccer semifinal on Sunday between May and Tipperary.
The judge said it was a matter for the prison authorities and not for the court.
KBC Bank, which obtained warrants in 2018 granting it vacant possession of the farm, claims it obtained a court order requiring the McGann family and everyone else to vacate the property.
However, Mr. Granahan and others had remained on the property and were in contempt of court.
This resulted in KBC initiating a process that resulted in the arrest of the three men by Gardaí and their presentation to the judge to answer for their contempt.
KBC’s Rossa Fanning said today that while Mr. Granahan had been on the property and was clearly in contempt of court orders, she did not want to see him jailed.
A commitment from you not to return to the property, the attorney said, would satisfy the bank.
Addressing the court, Mr. Granahan, who objected to being called ‘Mr. Granahan ‘, stating that it was “an insult” and that his name is’ Colm Granahan’, said that the warrant in which he and the others had been arrested and detained was technically flawed. .
That argument was not accepted by the court or by Mr. Fanning, who said it was a technical attempt to avoid the real question of whether the order would be carried out.
Granahan said he was a “peaceful” person who “knows the difference between good and evil” and “upholding the law”, who was “almost 61 years old.”
He also criticized the behavior of the banks and what they have done to the people who rescued them.
Mr. Granahan then declined to respond, when asked by the judge if he was willing to commit to complying with the orders, only to say that he was “staying mute.”
When warned that refusal to make a commitment could result in his imprisonment, Mr. Granahan responded “you can do whatever you want.”
The judge said that under the circumstances, he had no choice but to send Mr. Granahan to Mountjoy Prison until he was ready to purge his contempt.
The matter will be reviewed next week, the judge added.
The farm in Falsk has been the subject of proceedings involving brothers Michael Anthony, David and Geraldine McGann, and KBC Bank.
KBC obtained a possession order for the estate several years ago as a result of a € 431,000 debt on the property on a loan to its registered owner, Michael Anthony McGann.
The McGanns were evicted in 2018, but the home was later the scene of an attack on the security men employed to secure it.
The security men were forced to leave the property by a group of masked men and several vehicles were burned.
The McGanns, who were not involved in that incident, returned to the home.
That resulted in KBC seeking and obtaining orders against him last March, which were delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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