A 91-year-old woman has taken High Court proceedings to compel a son who recently sold a 230-acre estate at Blessington, Co Wicklow, for €19.5 million to provide adequate accommodation for her.
Ms Mary J O'Leary - who is living with a daughter at Bardon's Cottage, Kilcullen, and was described as mentally and physically well and not in need of nursing care - has taken the proceedings against her son James O'Leary and a number of solicitors.
The family estate, at The Demesne, Blessington, was left to her son James in her husband's will. After the estate was sold for €19.5 million in 2001, Ms O'Leary said she had been allocated two rooms in her son's new home, which she described as totally unsuitable.
She said she never felt welcome there, was never given a key and left last May after her daughter Kathleen was told she (the daughter) was not welcome at the house. She was particularly hurt at the treatment she had received and believed it was the intention of her son and his wife that she be put into a nursing home.
She was now living with her daughter but wanted her own accommodation.
Mr Justice Kelly today granted leave to Mr Brian Spierin SC, for Ms O'Leary, to serve short notice of the proceedings on the defendants. The judge also returned the matter to Monday.