The separated wife of drug dealer John Gilligan has told the High Court she lives on €80 per week she receives from renting grazing rights on lands that she owns at Jessbrook Equestrian Centre.
Geraldine Gilligan, who said she legally separated from John Gilligan in 1995, said she receives €5,000 per annum for grazing rights from stud farm owner Troy Jordan and this was her only source of income, working out at about €80 per week.
Yesterday was the fourth day of an application by the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) to have its legal officer appointed as a receiver over Jessbrook in Enfield, Co Meath, and other properties owned by the Gilligan family. At yesterday's hearing she was cross-examined by Michael McDowell SC, representing the Cab.
Asked about an affidavit made by her, Ms Gilligan said she had continued to live at Jessbrook since the Cab secured an order freezing the Gilligan assets in 1996.
Apart from the grazing revenue, she had, until last year, also received an income of €800 per month from rent on the former family home at Corduff Avenue, Blanchardstown.
She also previously received rent from an apartment at Jessbrook and would shortly have a new tenant in it.
She paid for utility bills for Jessbrook from the rent she received for it and agreed her weekly income, after such expenses, worked out at about €80 per week.
Asked about how she paid for maintenance of Jessbrook, she said it was looked after by a friend of hers. "I have a lot of friends, Mr McDowell, to help out when I need them, manually," she said.
She agreed Jessbrook was uninsured and she was unable to afford the €10,000 to €20,000 per annum premium that Mr McDowell estimated insurance would cost.
She said she regularly visited her daughter Tracey, who runs what has been described by the Cab as "a lucrative" bar called the Judge's Chamber in Alicante, Spain.
Although she helped out in the bar, she did not receive any of the proceeds from it, she said. Tracey was the legal owner and Ms Gilligan had power of attorney over the asset, should anything happen to Tracey, until Tracey's daughter reaches 18.
Ms Gilligan said, as far as she was aware, Tracey bought the bar from a man called William Fitzgerald. Pressed by Mr McDowell, she said she also knew Tracey's deceased partner, Liam Judge, had been co-owner with Mr Fitzgerald.
She said Tracey had not been left the bar by Mr Judge but had taken out a mortgage on it. "I don't feel I should answer these questions because they have nothing to do with me," she added.
Ms Gilligan also said the cost of her air tickets to and from Spain were paid by Tracey. When she came to Ireland, she used a friend's car to get around, she added. She occasionally stayed with a close female friend but otherwise stayed at Jessbrook.
She agreed she had a small income but added: "I do not need that much money." She did retain the services of an accountant because she had to "for Cab".
She disputed Mr McDowell's claims that Jessbrook was overgrown when she returned last July from Spain and insisted she could at all times drive up to the house, despite the Cab's claims that the driveway was impassable.
The court heard earlier from a Cab officer who took photographs of what he described as the neglected condition of Jessbrook last July and December.
It was stated that, following a court order last Friday that new photographs of the equestrian centre be taken, a clean-up operation had taken place on Saturday and Sunday.
The officer said he saw Ms Gilligan wearing yellow plastic gloves and working at the main gate to Jessbrook. The officer denied, under cross-examination from John Gilligan, who is representing himself, that he had trespassed on Jessbrook in order to take photographs last year.
Gilligan said photographs of the equestrian centre taken earlier this week had not included the house because the photographs would have shown it was "lovely and well kept".
The Cab has said it believes, unless a receiver is appointed, the Gilligan properties could lose value or be subjected to unrecoverable damage or destruction costs because they are not insured.
Legal submissions began yesterday and will continue when the case resumes next Tuesday.