Kennys Settle Land Dispute

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Irish Voice News

Kennys Settle Land Dispute

April 16, 2008

By Paddy Clancy

IRELAND’S most high-profile land dispute was settled on Tuesday when Late, Late Show television anchor Pat Kenny and his wife Kathy and their neighbors, semi-retired solicitor Gerard Charlton and his wife Maeve, told the High Court they reached agreement in what became known as the battle of Gorse Hill.

The dispute over ownership of a tiny strip of land near both couples’ homes had Ireland riveted when it reached court last week.

The Charltons claimed they were rightful owners of the tiny cliff-top square of land known as Gorse Hill near their homes in Dalkey in south County Dublin. The Kennys claimed they had squatters’ rights over the land estimated to be worth $2.37 million. If combined with adjacent sites it was reckoned to have a development value of up to $15.8 million.

As the case was outlined in the opening days, newspapers gleefully hoisted sensational headlines based on a court claim that at one stage in their dispute 60-year-old Kenny furiously raised his fists to 73-year-old Charlton.

The judge, Justice Maureen Clark, was also told of a counter-claim that Charlton assaulted Kenny by shutting a gate on his arm.

When Charlton’s case was opened his lawyer, Eoghan Fitzsimmons, said the court had to decide two issues. The first was whether the Charltons had title to the land, and the second was whether the Kennys’ counter claim for adverse possession or squatters’ rights was correct.

Fitzsimons said the claim was first made by the Kennys in July 2006 when the dispute “blew up.” Before that, the lawyer said, there had never been any mention of it.

There had been a strong friendship between the Kennys and the Charltons from the time they became neighbors in 1991. The court heard how Kenny had been so friendly with the Charltons that he used to walk into their house without even knocking.

The friendship ended following “an acrimonious” meeting over the one fifth-acre piece of land in July 2006.

On the third day of the hearing the judge, following a visit to the site the previous evening, appealed to both sides to seek to settle their dispute over the weekend.

Former Attorney General Rory Brady agreed to act as mediator and held 10 hours of talks on Sunday during which, he later said, he established that each side genuinely believed they were right and had felt a real sense of grievance about how they were treated by the other.

By Tuesday morning this week the judge was told a deal had been negotiated. Kenny and his wife agreed to buy the rocky outcrop for an undisclosed sum. Each side would pay their own legal costs which, although considerable, were only a fraction of what they might have been had the hearing run the full predicted four weeks.

Speaking after the announcement of the settlement, Kenny said he and his family were delighted the “deeply distressing” episode was over.

“Those of you who reported on the proceedings realize you have only heard the assertions of one side in this dispute which may have provided some dramatic headlines, but which would have been utterly rebutted by us in court,” he said.

“Some people who were not in court may have thought that this was a David and Goliath battle. It was not. It was a dispute between us and a neighbor who is a successful and experienced solicitor and owner of properties.”

Charlton said, “We are very happy with this outcome. As we wish to bring closure to this very debilitating and traumatic episode in our lives, we will be making no further comment.”

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