Three financial institutions owed money by solicitors Michael Lynn and Thomas Byrne have carried out judgment searches on other solicitors who were found to have debts registered against them. The institutions asked Dublin credit information company, BusinessPro, to carry out the searches in an effort to find out if other solicitors posed a risk.
BusinessPro found 182 judgments totalling around €5 million had been registered against solicitors since 1997. Some 120 judgments were registered by the Collector General over outstanding taxes. About 38 judgments have since been satisfied. This represents a small proportion of the country's solicitors - there are 7,400 practising in Ireland.
BusinessPro carried out the searches for the financial institutions in the last three weeks. The company's managing director, James Treacy, declined to name the institutions.
He said Mr Byrne was classified "high risk" and Mr Lynn "above average risk", according to the company's credit scoring system. This was due to three judgments that were registered against them.
Mr Treacy said failing to satisfy judgments for long periods increases an individual's credit risk.
A judgment of IR£7,950 was registered against Mr Byrne by the Collector General in 1997, with IR£3,290 being paid off since then. Another IR£1,083, was registered against him by a Dublin accountancy firm in 1996.
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