‘Get a bicycle, lose the car’ judge tells dad
A FATHER threatened with jail after he failed to keep up payments for his own little girl has been told to ‘get a bicycle and lose the car’.
The father has handed over some of the €4,600 maintenance arrears he owes without selling his car after his parents coughed up some of the cash.
The father told the judge that he had also managed to gather ‘a few quid I had myself’ as he handed over a cheque of €3,000 to his former partner for their little daughter in court yesterday.
However, Judge Patrick Durcan told him that there remains €1,600 outstanding in arrears and told the Co. Clare man ‘to get a bicycle and lose the car’.
At the Ennis Family Law court, Anne Walsh, solicitor for the mother, said that the man has ‘stepped up to the mark’ and handed over what she called ‘a reasonable sum of money’.
However, Judge Durcan said that the unemployed man ‘would have to hold a bit of a gig over Christmas’ to raise the funds to pay off the outstanding €1,600.
The man handed over the cheque after being threatened with jail earlier this month by Judge Durcan.
The court had heard he spent an entire €18,000 personal injury award from a car crash between April and June of this year, including buying a new car.
Ms Walsh told the court that the man ‘gave the impression to us all on the last day that the car cost €10,000 – on further examination of bank statements, the car appears to have a value of €4,200’.
On hearing that the €3,000 bank draft had been handed over, Judge Durcan told the man: ‘You remember when you were here on the last occasion, you weren’t offering me anything at all and you have now come up with two-thirds of it. I want to say “well done” – that is the kind of action I want.’
Concerning the remaining €1,600 to be paid over, Judge Durcan said: ‘Either you provide that or the car will be going.’
The judge said he would adjourn the case to March 7 to allow the man to pay up the remaining money.
In response, the man said: ‘I need to find a job. I need to put money together.’
The judge said: ‘On March 7 you would want the car valeted and ready for takeoff, because I will be directing the registrar to take possession of it. Good luck.’