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Thomas Byrne
Byrne victims call on Law Society to pay compensation
The Law Society has said it has done everything it can for people who have lost money in attempting to regain control of their homes.
THE VICTIMS OF jailed solicitor Thomas Byrne may take legal advice in an attempt to secure compensation from the Law Society.
Byrne was sentenced to 12 years in prison yesterday, having been found guilty of transferring clients’ homes into his own name.
Many of those affected are beginning to regain ownership of those homes, but years of protracted legal wrangling has cost them potentially thousands of Euro due to the collapse in the property market.
Terry Connors, who was a client of Byrne, said that the Law Society, the professional body for solicitors, needed to remedy the situation.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Connors said that some victims had lost up to €250,000.
“I don’t know what we can do, but maybe we’ll have a chat and take legal advice to see what we can do.
“I’d like [the Law Society] to have a look at their rules.
It’s not fair. We put our trust in professionals and expect them to be honourable and that hasn’t been the case.
Director General of the Law Society Ken Murphy said yesterday that everything that could be done to help victims was done.
“In terms of claims on the society’s compensation fund, where people had entrusted money to Thomas Byrne, and it had been lost through dishonesty, that money has been repaid.
“The damages cost the solicitors’ profession who in some respects are also victims of Thomas Byrne and his activities, over €8m.”
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