Registrar Honohan has been removed from debt cases

RedOnion said:

I don't believe that's 100% accurate. Where the mortgage is still in place, as it's a breach of a still active contract, it cannot be statute barred. There are several other reasons where they wouldn't have won in court, but statute of limitations isn't the

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Dazzler123 said:

The date when the tracker should have been offered or taken up is the operative date for the statute of limitations

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Since last Monday, all motions seeking liberty to enter a final judgment in summary summons proceedings must go before a High Court judge rather than the Master.
The decision has proved controversial and prompted a demonstration outside the Four Courts on Monday.
As of yesterday, more than 4,300 people had signed an online petition seeking the return of debt cases to the Master.
In the interview, Mr Honohan was also heavily critical of cuts to legal aid, saying the overriding agenda of the Government was not due process, but saving money.
Although not a judge, Mr Honohan is a senior counsel with a quasi-judicial role.
In contested cases he ensures correct procedures are followed and paperwork is in order before sending a matter on to the High Court....
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He argues that while lawyers are familiar with the procedures, lay litigants are not and their affidavits are usually inadequate.
Mr Honohan claims that after he raised the issue in 2011, a High Court judge, who he did not name, warned the Irish Human Rights Commission against supporting him.
"They were told Honohan is a nutter," he said.
Mr Honohan said some affidavits from banks were "really offensive to my eye" as they "really seek to portray a defendant as misleading the court, a charlatan".
However, he denies being biased against financial institutions. "All I am doing is applying the rules across the board," he said.
Although "not as distressed and shocked as some people seem to think", he admitted being "quite annoyed" by Mr Justice Kelly's decision.
"What I am doing, in the absence of proper legal aid, is attempting to act in a Christian manner to defendants who want to know what they should do next. I ask them what their story is and I say: 'This is how you deal with it.'"
He now fears defendants might not get the same "care and attention" from a judge.

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Delboy said:

Looks like they might have to fire him

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“This is banking ‘culture’. It starts with bonuses and ends in disinformation,” he said. “The age of innocence is over. Bank’s affidavits have fallen from grace. They no longer enjoy any presumption of accuracy. Justice now requires scepticism,” he said.

That did not mean that a judge who critically examines banks’ affidavits is somehow prejudiced against banks. The converse applied, as failure to do so “suggests a prejudice against debtors”.
“This is banking ‘culture’. It starts with bonuses and ends in disinformation,” he said. “The age of innocence is over. Bank’s affidavits have fallen from grace. They no longer enjoy any presumption of accuracy. Justice now requires scepticism,” he said.

That did not mean that a judge who critically examines banks’ affidavits is somehow prejudiced against banks. The converse applied, as failure to do so “suggests a prejudice against debtors”.....
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There is no legal basis for the courts’ “special regard” for bank records, Mr Honohan said. “In fact, given recent banking scandals, it is hard for judges to view any bank records without suspicion,” he added.

Judges “are not brain-dead” and any judge who thinks banks should be accommodated by an uncritical court “should think again”.

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Brendan Burgess said:

illustrating how off the wall Honhohan has become

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