The High Court has awarded Yeoksee Ooi €20,000 after finding that the execution of a possession order at her Wicklow home was unlawful and breached her rights under Article 40.5 of the Constitution.
Mr Justice Oisín Quinn delivered judgment on June 18, 2026. He stressed that Promontoria Scariff DAC had a valid possession order over Dromin House and was legally entitled to recover the property. The wrongdoing concerned how that order was enforced on February 24, 2025.
Ooi had lived at the house since 2006 with her partner and their three children. One child was under 18 at the time of the eviction and another was an adult with special needs for whom Ooi provided full-time care.
Promontoria obtained possession in the Circuit Court in January 2023, subject to an 18-month stay. An appeal was dismissed in March 2024.
The Wicklow County Registrar later issued a purported warrant naming Joseph Burke, the Dublin City Sheriff, to execute the order. Quinn J found two independent defects. The warrant did not appoint Wicklow's court messenger, as required by the Enforcement of Court Orders Act 1926, and the County Registrar had neither reviewed nor personally approved or signed the warrant before her signature stamp was applied by the court messenger.
The judge also found that, after Burke's appointment, the County Registrar and her court messenger effectively surrendered control of the execution process. Burke instead acted on instructions transmitted by Promontoria's solicitors, including directions on timing.
Ooi received notice on Friday, February 21, requiring the family to leave by midnight on Sunday. She notified Burke that she intended to seek urgent Supreme Court relief, but possession was taken on Monday morning while she was at the Four Courts and two of her children had left for school and university.
The court held that the State enforcement process failed to account adequately for the family's circumstances, including the minor and vulnerable adult, and was neither lawful nor proportionate.
Claims against Promontoria and Blackwater Asset Management were dismissed. Quinn J awarded €20,000 compensatory damages against the State defendants but refused aggravated or exemplary damages.