Longford Judge and solicitor in jovial exchange

A judge last week comically accused a local solicitor of “luring her into a false sense of security” over how long an expected afternoon sitting of Longford District Court was likely to take.

Judge Bernadette Owens made the jovial remark towards Longford solicitor Frank Gearty following a lengthy morning session at last Friday's court sitting.

During a brief interlude between cases, questions turned to how long the court's scheduled afternoon list might take.

Despite the morning list resulting in a slightly later than anticipated lunch break, Mr Gearty said it his belief the afternoon list of cases were not “too bad”.

Doing her best to remain reticent to those estimations, Judge Owens quipped: “Mr Gearty, you are always trying to lure me into a false sense of security.”